Miley Cyrus was interviewed recently for Variety’s series focusing on would-be Emmy nominees this year. Miley will likely be a contender for her appearance on Black Mirror, so a lot of the interview is about that episode and Miley’s performance as Ashley O, a pill-popping pop star with a toxic aunt/manager. Miley talks about other things too, like her sobriety. We heard, last year, that Miley was going sober, but I kind of believed her sobriety was just about liquor and hard drugs, and that she was probably still smoking pot? But now she says that she’s “sober sober,” which I guess means no drugs or alcohol at all. You can read Variety’s coverage here. Some highlights:
On the Black Mirror script: “The main difference to me is I don’t have an Aunt Catherine. My mom has been my momager. I’m almost freaking 30, and I don’t buy a lightbulb for my house without asking my mom if it’s the right one. Without my parents I bet my life would’ve been more similar to the Ashley O story.”
Her idols growing up: “I had the most weird hodgepodge of Britney Spears, ’NSync, Metallica and Hilary [Duff.] I had Joan Jett and Pat Benatar. You should’ve seen my face when Britney covered “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” in “Crossroads.” I melted down. That scene was the father, the son and the Holy Spirit all in one room. I actually lost my mind. That was worlds colliding beyond what I could have ever dreamed of.
Her parents are stoners? “One of my favorite interviews is when I say, “Anyone that smokes weed is a dummy.” That one I love to send to my parents, who are big stoners, every now and then. It’s been really important for me over the last year living a sober lifestyle, because I really wanted to polish up my craft. I had really big vocal surgery in November. I had freaking four weeks where I wasn’t allowed to talk. I was so ripped writing on the whiteboard, yelling at everybody [Laughs]. I had this one big bicep from just yelling at mom and still trying to do meetings. But it prepared me for the stillness and the quietness.
Whether she’s really sober-sober: “I’ve been sober sober for the past six months. At the beginning, it was just about this vocal surgery. … But I had been thinking a lot about my mother. My mom was adopted, and I inherited some of the feelings she had, the abandonment feelings and wanting to prove that you’re wanted and valuable. My dad’s parents divorced when he was 3, so my dad raised himself. I did a lot of family history, which has a lot of addiction and mental health challenges. So just going through that and asking, “Why am I the way that I am?” By understanding the past, we understand the present and the future much more clearly. I think therapy is great.
She’s still fun: “It’s really hard because especially being young, there’s that stigma of “you’re no fun.” It’s like, “honey, you can call me a lot of things, but I know that I’m fun.” The thing that I love about it is waking up 100%, 100% of the time. I don’t want to wake up feeling groggy. I want to wake up feeling ready.”
The sleep/groggy thing is one of the big reasons why I stopped drinking years ago. When I drank, I told myself that one drink would “help me sleep.” But then I’d wake up in the middle of the night when the alcohol burned out of my body, or I’d wake up with an awful headache and a hangover. It is really awesome to not feel that way anymore. Sobriety doesn’t make you a better person, but it just makes you more of who you are. And I’m actually sort of proud of Miley for her sobriety. I hope she can keep it up and I hope this isn’t just another “phase” that she cycles out of in six months. Like, I could see Miley bringing in the new year and declaring in an interview that 2021 is the Year of ‘80s Style Coke Binges. Please, let’s not.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Eh I like her singing voice a lot and this sounds like she’s in a good place….BUT this is such a part of her celebrity lifecycle, to go off the rails a little, give a great magazine interview and never cops to any of her mistakes or explain why things she’s done are wrong, which would show real growth. It’s like if she changes her hair and style we can’t blame new Miley for old Miley anything. She learned a lot from quiet and stillness guys! don’t talk about the divorce, disposable girlfriend, and quick shacking up with that nothingburger guy.
Like, we’ve all just agreed to move on and not talk about the twerkathon mess of her bangerz era? Wasn’t that long ago that she was using Black women as props and flashing a grill and fake gang signs, or saying Nicki Minaj isn’t nice enough when Nicki called out music for rewarding white women for being culturevultures.
Her relationship with her parents smell of codependency and enmeshment. Hope she works on that in therapy ❤️
I hope she stays sober and in therapy. A lot of her prior behavior seemed like it was coming from mixing substance abuse issues with other, unaddressed personal issues.
She also talked about being protected: ‘Like when I was looking for a manager, we got whoever Dolly (Parton) told me would be protective over me. It didn’t have to do with, “he’s going to make you star.” It was, “you’re going to feel comfortable with your child traveling with him and he’s going to take care of her and respect [your] values.” This comes after Ariana Grande, Victoria Justice, Elizabeth Gilles, and Daniela Monet talked about how their experiences as young actresses on Nickelodeon were positive. The reason why all of this is noteworthy, is because it all serves as an important but gentle reminder of our need listen to and wait for women to share their experiences, rather than deciding what those experiences were based on what other women’s experiences have been. Especially with all the ways our unequal world exploits female experiences and voices in order to promote different forms of oppression.
Wtf with the line about how she developed abandonment issues because HER MOM was adopted. No. Just no.
I think it’s that her mother’s behavior and insecurities rubbed off on her, which is super common.
Trauma can be passed through generations
I have a feeling that her divorce from Liam may have brought this on, somewhat. Despite her mudslinging in the press he’s never come across as someone with the same substance abuse issues as Miley has had. Maybe the relationship falling apart (even if it was always dysfunctional to begin with) precipitated a switch in her priorities, maybe the substance abuse played a role in the demise of the relationship. Either way, I’m not a big fan of her, but I’m pulling for her and I hope she continues down a path that allows her to grow and take care of herself.
@Amber … “Despite her mudslinging in the press he’s never come across as someone with the same substance abuse issues as Miley has had.”
I always thought that Miley came out the gate ‘mudslinging’ about Liam’s substance abuse the second news broke of their separation because she expected Liam to slinge some serious mud about her own substances abuses. I think she also thought he’d move on to a new squeeze straight away, too. to prove he was completely over it and he’d be okay without her. So she beat him to the punch in ‘moving on’ first with a new squeeze. There was something quite desperate about the way she did it. It seems that Liam’s , quiet and ‘nearly’ gentlemanly behavior towards her in the press after their spilt surprised Miley.
There is a wonderful old song Jim Webb song recorded by Glenn Campbell, Issac Hayes, and a host of other artists, titled “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” that, to me, suits Miley and Liam’s break up perfectly.
I’m not surprised her parents are stoners. I remember when Billy Ray posted a picture of a room in his house and there was a safe full of marijuana.
Good for her. And hopefully sobriety will help keep her tongue in her mouth – where it belongs.
Her “weird hodgepodge” music taste is a pretty standard list for girls her/my generation??
Wait, what : “my dad’s parents divorced at 3 so he raised himself” ? What in the world does divorce have to do with a child raising themselves.