Miley Cyrus Says Playing Hannah Montana Did “Extreme Damage in My Psyche”
Miley Cyrus seems to be reverting back to her roots with the release of her latest album, Younger Now. She’s even singing songs from her Hannah Montana days—see: her performance of “The Climb” in honor of the victims of the Las Vegas shooting and a rendition of “See You Again” in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge—but it seems the 24-year-old doesn’t have the fondest memories of her time on the Disney Channel.
In a recent interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Cyrus compared dressing up in a wig and and heavy makeup for her Hannah Montana role as a “normal” brunette high schooler by day and a blonde pop singer by night to the TLC child pageant show Toddlers & Tiaras. But she says that at the time she didn’t realize the effect it would have on her. “I definitely look back on it as a good time. I think what was hard for me was balancing everything,” she said. “I think it got harder when I started touring as both—I toured as Hannah Montana and as myself.” She continued, laughing, “I think that’s probably what’s a little bit wrong with me now! I mark that up to doing some extreme damage in my psyche as an adult person.”
Cyrus said, at the time, she was just happy to act, sing, and “wear sparkly clothes.” “I liked being in the Disney universe because I didn’t know anything else. I knew I was getting to live what I wanted to do,” she said. “I think now that I’m older now, I realize that’s a lot to put on a kid.” But The Voice host has no regrets. “I have a quote in a place where I do yoga. And it says, ‘The more that you love your own decisions, the less you need other people to love them,'” she said. “And I’ve learned from a lot of people that have gotten knocked down to get back up, so I’m okay with that.”
One person that Cyrus admires for her resilience is Hillary Clinton. Cyrus campaigned for Clinton during the 2016 election and has been outspoken about her disappointment since Donald Trump won. “I don’t feel like I got knocked down, but I got that women-judgment double-standard in a heavy dosing,” Cyrus said. “And I’m okay with that. You know, I just recently read Hillary Clinton’s book. And now I think of things in a whole different way. I always think, if she can lose an election, I can do this.”
Related: Miley Cyrus: Screen Test
