The 'Wrecking Ball' hitmaker exposed a dark impact of her role as blond-wigged alter ego Hannah Montana in the 'Rock This with Allison Hagendorf' podcast on March 5.
- Mar 6, 2021
AceShowbiz - Miley Cyrus has revealed how "Hannah Montana" negatively affected her. Talking to Allison Hagendorf in the March 5 episode of the "Rock This with Allison Hagendorf" podcast, the "Wrecking Ball" hitmaker blamed her role as a pop superstar in the hit Disney series for giving her an "identity crisis".
Having led the teen sitcom series for more than four years, the "Party in the U.S.A" singer explained that the problem laid in the concept of the show itself. "Talk about an identity crisis. I [was] a character almost as often as I was myself, and actually the concept of the show is that when you're this character [and] when you have this alter ego, you're valuable," she began explaining.
"Then the concept was that when I looked like myself, when I didn't have the wig on anymore, no one cared about me. I wasn't a star anymore," the ex-wife of Liam Hemsworth continued as referring to her ordinary teen girl character Miley Stewart. "That was drilled into my head [that], without being Hannah [Montana], no one cares about you. That was the concept."
Cyrus then explained that she forced herself to really break the ingrained-"Hannah Montana" concept as she tried to grow as an artist. That resulted in a whole new image she presented through her 2013 album, "Bangerz". Of it, she said, "I think that's maybe why I almost created like a characterized version of myself at times, like in the way of being aware of how other people see me is more what I mean."
"I never created a character where it wasn't me, but I was aware of how people saw me and I kind of played into it a little bit," the 28-year-old continued explaining. "Like when I noticed that people gave a shit that I would stick my tongue out. When they told me, stop sticking your f**king tongue out, I would do it more."
Back in December 2020, Cyrus had already spilled that fans' reaction to her "Hannah Montana" role had her questioning her self-worth when she was younger. "Some of my audience was so attached to a character, which wasn't me," she said in the December 2 episode of "The Howard Stern Show". She added, "So, then that does a lot of psychological stuff, where it's like, 'Am I valuable as myself?'"
"The whole show's premise was that when I had my normal hair and looked like myself, no one gave a s**t about me," she further told host Howard Stern. "And then when I got all dolled up and put a wig on, all of a sudden, you know, I'm being chased by people chasing my tour bus. That's a lot to put on a kid - to go, 'When you're yourself, no one gives a f**k.'"
