Miley Cyrus is a force to be reckoned with. After becoming a household name on Hannah Montana in 2006, the Tennessee native has blossomed into an A-list movie star and singer who consistently keeps her fans on their toes.
The actress got her start on Disney Channel, but as her career continued to grow, she realized the effects of being a child star.
“There’s so much I don’t remember about being a child entertainer because it was so much to keep in my brain,” she detailed in the August 2017 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. “It’s like anything when you are in it. I didn’t realize how much pressure I was under and how that shaped me until, like, this year.”
Cyrus garnered criticism as she embraced growing up. “People were so shocked by some of the things that I did,” she recalled. “It should be more shocking that when I was 11 or 12, I was put in full hair and makeup, a wig, and told what to wear by a group of mostly older men.”
The “Wrecking Ball” songstress’ character on Hannah Montana was known for transforming herself on a regular basis, and Cyrus has been no different during her time in the spotlight.
“I’m not saying I’ve never been myself,” she noted. “Who I was on the last record [Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz] was really who I am. It’s just myself has been a lot of different people because I change a lot.”
No matter what stage of life she is in, Cyrus hopes that her authenticity is evident. “I think I show people that they can be themselves,” she said. “I also think something that has been important for me, in this next little, like, transition phase of my career is that I don’t give a f–k about being cool. I just want to be myself.”
As she discovered who she is, the Last Song star had a series of high-profile relationships — none more so than with Liam Hemsworth. She began dating the actor in 2009, and they were engaged from 2012 to 2013. They rekindled their romance in 2016 and tied the knot in 2018. However, they announced their split in 2019 and finalized their divorce in 2020.
“What really sucked about it wasn’t the fact that me and someone that I loved realized that we don’t love each other the way that we used to anymore,” Cyrus said during a September 2020 appearance on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. “That’s OK, I can accept that. I can’t accept the villainizing and just all those stories.”
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From her on-again, off-again relationship with Hemsworth to her emotional albums and jaw-dropping music videos, revisit Cyrus’ journey to fame:
