Miley Cyrus‘ Bangerz era was pretty unforgettable, with the pop star repeatedly shocking the world through risqué outfits and provocative performances at a time when many still associated her with the squeaky-clean image of Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana.
But during a candid interview with Monica Lewinsky on her Reclaiming podcast posted Tuesday (June 10), the pop star revealed just how much the backlash affected her — and her relationships with her family — when it all went down circa 2013. “That was the time where I just got hit so hard, and I was so embarrassed,” she said, referring to the criticism.
“There was even a time where my brother and sister didn’t want to go to school, because of how humiliated they were to be related to me,” she continued. “I had a lot of guilt about how hard it would’ve been to be my sibling or my parent, and how embarrassing.”
Cyrus has five siblings, including half-sister Brandi, half-brothers Trace and Christopher, brother Braison and sister Noah. In addition to affecting the lives of her siblings, the Grammy winner said that the years surrounding the release of her Bangerz album also put a strain on her relationships with her father, Billy Ray Cyrus — “It was really hard for me to go home and see my dad and look him in the eyes and not feel super embarrassed,” she noted — and her grandmother.
She also said that she has since worked through the feelings of shame that lingered from that time period in therapy, but was very honest about how she “lost everything” as a result of her risqué persona. “If I kept dressing or acting a certain way, my relationships fell apart,” Cyrus said. “No one wanted to date me, because they didn’t want to be with a woman [whose] sexual expression part was not for them, it was like shared with the world.”
“I was engaged at the time,” she continued, referring to ex-husband Liam Hemsworth. “That didn’t work out, because I was sharing a part of myself that men wanted to be saved for them only.”
Cyrus has come a long way since the events of 2013, the most memorable of which was arguably her parental-panic-inducing, half-nude performance alongside Robin Thicke at that year’s MTV VMAs. Though Bangerz spawned her first-ever Billboard Hot 100 hit with “Wrecking Ball,” she has since outdone herself with the eight-week chart reign of “Flowers,” which also earned the singer her first-ever Grammys at the 2024 ceremony. Cyrus is now fresh off the release of her new album, Something Beautiful, which debuted this week at No. 4 on the Billboard 200.
But while the criticism she faced more than a decade ago hurt in the moment, Cyrus says she now understands why it was so extreme. “What I did wasn’t shocking, it was who I was that was shocking,” pointing out that her past as the kid-friendly Hannah Montana character made her pivot feel even more disturbing to the public.
To give an example, Cyrus pointed out that, in comparison, barely anyone batted an eye at Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” in 2021. “But Cardi B isn’t for kids,” the Black Mirror alum acknowledged. “She’s not a child star. For me it was hard to go, ‘Why is Rihanna not in trouble?’”
Watch Cyrus’ full interview with Lewinsky above.
