Miley Cyrus’s new album is all about Liam Hemsworth & their ‘toxic’ marriage

Did you know that it’s been over fourteen months since we’ve devoted a post to Miley Cyrus? It’s true, I checked. The last time we even talked about her was back in January 2022, when Kim Kardashian unfollowed Miley after Miley flirted with Pete Davidson (who was then dating Kim). While Miley has been active and seen a lot in the past year, it’s also felt like she’s been relatively quiet (for her). Then she released her latest album, Endless Summer Vacation, this month as the first single, “Flowers,” dominated the charts. And still, while the song has been everywhere, Miley hasn’t. It’s been interesting. Is this “growth” perhaps? Has Miley matured? Well, there’s a new piece in People Magazine and it actually sounds like she’s still hung up on explaining what happened during her marriage and divorce to Liam Hemsworth. Their divorce was finalized in January 2020!

Miley Cyrus is 30 years old & thriving: The star is thriving after having had ample time to heal and reflect in the aftermath of her painful divorce from Liam Hemsworth. “She’s the healthiest and happiest she’s been in a long time,” a Cyrus source says. “Everyone was blaming her for the divorce and calling her this wild child, but that wasn’t fair. Their relationship and marriage was toxic, and she was heartbroken.”

Her side of the divorce story: Though Cyrus released the glam rock album Plastic Hearts in November 2020, the source says that she finally feels ready to “tell her side of the story” after having “had time to process and heal” from the split. Though Hemsworth is not directly referenced on the album, fans have speculated that some lyrics — like the ex in “Muddy Feet” who smells like “perfume that I didn’t purchase” — are about the Hunger Games actor.

She’s not blaming Liam: “She’s not trying to bash Liam, but she feels like she has every right to own the narrative after everyone was picking her apart after the breakup,” the insider says.

Miley is moving on too: Hemsworth has been dating Australian model Gabriella Brooks, 26, since December 2019, while Cyrus moved on with drummer Maxx Morando, 24, in late 2021. A second source tells PEOPLE that Morando — who produced two songs on Endless Summer Vacation — is a “cool guy” whose drama-free personality Cyrus finds refreshing. “He has no interest in being a huge celebrity; he’s very low-key. Miley loves these qualities,” the insider says. “Miley can be herself. They are supportive of each other’s careers. Miley is enjoying life and things are great.”

[From People]

I mean… four years after Miley and Liam split and she’s still devoting whole-ass albums to “her side,” really? There’s no time limit on healing, but this sounds more like Miley is trying to rewrite her own (toxic) narrative, where she split with Liam at the same time she launched a full-blown affair with Kaitlynn Carter. Again – I’ve gotten in trouble for this before, so I’ll repeat myself – I have no doubt that Liam cheated or whatever. I just think Miley was just as toxic, dysfunctional, unfaithful and immature as Liam when they were together. I also think Miley sounds like she’s still hung up on Liam!

“Flowers” is a very good song!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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34 Responses to “Miley Cyrus’s new album is all about Liam Hemsworth & their ‘toxic’ marriage”

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  1. Smile says:

    Both seem pretty toxic to me.

  2. equality says:

    There are plenty of people who think it’s okay if they have a sidepiece but don’t want their spouse to.

  3. Mcmmom says:

    I’m not an artist, so I don’t know, but I can absolutely see continuing to mine a divorce for material 3 years after the fact. I’ve been divorced for 8 years and we have both moved on, but I still reflect on it from time to time because it helps me understand myself and my choices and continue to make myself better. If I were a writer, I could see doing that through art.

    • Weetzie says:

      Two years between the official end of a marriage and the release of an album of related songs doesn’t seem strange to me. It takes a long time to get from first working on a song to a released album. My partner is a musician and songwriter and he’s working on the final mixes of an album he first started writing songs for in the middle of 2020. And sometimes songs you started can sit around for a while before you go back to working on. That’s just how the creative process works sometime.

      • Clomo says:

        I agree, does not strike me as an odd thing either. It takes awhile to digest learning experiences, we need to be a certain distance away from bad relationships to see them clearly, often even longer than this many times. She is so young, how many other major life experiences has she had to write about? (probably more than the average bear but she has also been sheltered in many ways)

      • otaku fairy says:

        Agreed. It probably wasn’t as much about still being hung up on Liam himself as much as it was her feelings about being lied on and demonized for behaviors her straight male partner had been guilty of too (and has been applauded for). Even a woman who was more mature than Miley Cyrus and didn’t have the same kind of trauma that she does would probably feel some kind of way about that. She may not react as poorly as she initially did, but those feelings would come out in some way.

    • Josephine says:

      If she’s already done an album or some songs on that theme, it does seem a little stale. I just don’t get the tortured heartbreak thing if they were both cheating. Maybe she thinks it’s different because she was so open about it and he was sneaky? It always felt like a starter marriage and they both treated it as such.

  4. Scurryalongnow says:

    I cannot stand that song Flowers. There’s a few of her songs I really love (Mother’s Daughter omg) but Flowers is just…bad. I’m also a 90s kid so Alanis and Ani were my go-to f*you songs (“You Oughta Know and “Untouchable Face” forever)

    That said, I am really appreciating the low keyness of her lately, I feel like I can appreciate her more as an artist from a distance.

  5. otaku fairy says:

    There have been some interesting situations over the past couple of years where men publicly reacting to stress or irritation in flawed ways have been shown grace that is rarely shown to women. Lots of, “Maybe we don’t have the full story for this one, men have feelings and maybe Jason was just having an emotional response to his ex- wife’s toxic behavior, oh that lovable curmudgeon may be a dick to people working with and for him but he just admits it so it’s all good.” Even if we didn’t completely agree with how a certain situation was handled by a middle-aged man, many rightfully saw the importance of calling the dramatic and bigoted responses what they were, considered what could have lead up to that situation, and expressed concern about the backlash becoming damaging and dangerous for him.

    If we can immediately do all that for a slap, then we can definitely extend at least some of that to women who are having messy reactions to years of misogynistic abuse and the end of a toxic relationship, as long as those reactions stop short of hitting someone. Whether that messy reaction involves publicly but childlessly getting with someone else a month or two after separating, insulting or cussing out someone who slut-shamed or victim-blamed, or venting about their careers in a world where others have less. Nobody died. Singing about a relationship isn’t throwing yourself under a guy’s car so he can’t leave, cussing someone out or ranting on social media isn’t following someone around yelling with a bat. The truth of the matter is that you really don’t know what’s going on with people , their relationships, or their work environments behind closed doors. Sometimes years later people end up learning that they were participating in something that was a bit worse than what they were already too comfortable with.

    And btw, they had already been separated for a moth when she and Caitlyn got together, according to both women involved and according to the court document that listed their date of separation.

    • Talia says:

      Agree

    • Jill says:

      Agree. I always got a weird vibe from Hemsworth to be honest (same with his brother, Chris). I don’t think I can fully articulate what it is that gives me the weird feeling about them but I always got the impression that they are very ‘traditional’ and maybe a little old fashioned when it comes to the dynamics in their relationships. Maybe it was little throwaway comments they made in interviews that gave me this impression? I’m not sure but I had the sense that maybe Liam always wanted to clip Miley’s wings a little bit or try to tame her. Their break-up around the time of Wrecking Ball clearly affected her and when they got back together, I remember looking at the pictures from their wedding thinking ‘looks like she agreed to play the part’. The marriage didn’t last long and maybe that’s the toxicity she’s referring to? Once he ‘wifed’ her, there may have been a shift in how she was expected to present herself or behave that went against who she’s always been. Again, I can’t exactly put my finger on what it is about him that’s given me that weird vibe but it was there when they were dating the first go ’round and certainly when they got back together and got married and then quickly divorced.

  6. jgerber says:

    Yeah, give Miley some grace. I totally agree.

  7. VoominVava says:

    Ugh. I just can’t with her. I don’t know why I have these irrational negative feelings for her. She doesn’t affect my life one bit, but I just can’t even with her. LOL I’m too old to feel this or care, but I can’t help it. I find her to be so fake and self centred. Her voice is also not great imo, it’s so put on .. I don’t see anything natural in it and I just don’t like the sound. I guess I should appreciate her openness to talk about issues and her support of LGBTQ+ since I appreciate that in others, but I just can’t muster up the energy. 😀
    With that said, I don’t have any issues with her writing about her experiences, that is what songwriters / artists do. It sucks for Liam, but he can tell his truth too if he wants. Unfortunately for him, she will be the louder of the two and her story will always be the more heard one.

    • girl_ninja says:

      Girl. Same. She’s an opportunist who has used the LGBTQI and the black community to her advantage. She is a nepo kid with clout chasing energy.

    • Jaded says:

      I’m with you VoominVava. She went through a truly vile stage around the Wrecking Ball time frame. Hanging out with that godawful perv Tony Richardson, humping with Robin Thicke on stage, she was just forcing herself and her tongue on the world in a truly immature and vulgar way. Anything to get attention. It appears it was a phase she’s grown out of, thank heavens, but it was a toxic partnership on both sides.

      • Fabiola says:

        I can’t stand how she’s always sticking her tongue out and she’s still vulgar. She just wants attention. She’s a perpetual teenager.

    • Bread and Circuses says:

      Same, same. For me, it was the whole tongue-out-twerking-on-Robin-Thicke era that did me in. I got so I would have a knee-jerk feeling of revulsion whenever I saw or heard her, and that’s never totally worn off.

      I was watching the Flowers video above and trying to put it aside and give her a fair viewing, and it wasn’t working because yes, she still comes across as a smug narcissist to me.

      • otaku fairy says:

        No offense, but if it’s about a lack of female modesty (especially if it includes holding onto something from 10 years ago) it’s very much a reflection of your own regressive tendencies. Just something to work on. 🙂

  8. Normades says:

    Watch them get back together, remarried and divorced all over again.

  9. girl_ninja says:

    I think she’s manipulative and arrogant he’s a jerk. Both can be true. That song Flowers is dreadful and I dislike her voice so much.

  10. Wendy says:

    This is People so they are going to lean hard on the divorce toxic angle —- this album isn’t all that Liam centric

  11. The Recluse says:

    Daylight Saving Adjustment has been kicking my bee-hind this week. I have no energy for this drama queen or her problematic ex.

  12. Ameerah M says:

    This is the second album she’s written about their divorce. At this point it’s giving obsessed. And also – milking an old relationship for album sales. Considering that SHE left HIM it’s weird that she is still so hung up on writing songs about him. And I don’t find re-writing the narrative around your relationship to make you look better to be all that mature.

  13. Ddeanna says:

    Miley has cleaned up her act. She had a throat surgery, got sober and apparently learned to keep her tongue in her mouth.

    Yeah, yeah, she’s a drama queen – but a very talented drama queen. Her New Years Eve special with
    Dolly Parton was outstanding.

    I too detected that weird vibe from Liam.
    Strange thing, that.

    • Fabiola says:

      How is she talented? She would not be famous if it wasn’t for her dad. Let’s be real.

  14. Jasmine says:

    When I see stories like this, my mind immediately asks if Miley is back to being managed by Larry Rudolph again. This is the same crap Lurking Larry always pulls – go for the big breakup drama, sell sell sell. He did it with Nick Lachey and Miley previously until she fired him. I’m sorry but Miley has so much more to talk/sing about than her brief marriage/relationship to d-lister Liam Hemsworth. It’s like Selena Gomez still talking/singing about Justin Beiber. They were kids. They’re grown & by the way, nobody cares. They were not Tom & Nicole or Brad & Jennifer level by any means.

    Also, why is Miley continuing to work with Black Box Security? This is the same controlling team that unlawfully surveillanced Britney Spears for 13+ years of her illegal and involuntary conservatorship.

    • otaku fairy says:

      Now that I’ve had a chance to check, it seems like 3 of the songs are about Liam. I liked the Wonder Woman ballad. There’s a tribute to her younger sister as well, which reminded me of how in 2019 the middle aged women of this community weaponized a still teenaged Noah in their beef with Miley over her sexuality*. A beef that apparently goes back to when Miley was still a teen herself. Given Noah’s well-documented struggles with depression and suicidal ideation, it was unwise and exploitative to drag her into that beef. All that for a golden boy.

      *And yes, I know the beef is also partially about actually problematic things she did throughout her twenties. But having legitimate reasons to dislike someone doesn’t erase the fact that the rest of the beef is all about slut-shaming, or make it any less dangerous and inappropriate to put words in a mentally ill teenage girl’s mouth by blaming her struggles on her older sister’s sexuality.