Miley Cyrus was on Kimmel recently promoting her song “Dream as One” from the Avatar: Fire and Ice soundtrack. Miley might be aiming for an Oscar nomination (it would be her first) but I doubt she’ll win one. This is such a mediocre retro-sounding song, like someone put Miley’s music through a Lady Gaga AI filter. Miley told Kimmel she only got two months’ notice from James Cameron to write the song and that she wanted to keep it small and intimate-sounding to go with how grand the movie is or something. I guess she accomplished that and maybe I’m being too hard on her. She also said she was inspired by losing her home to the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which comes through in the lyrics.

Miley is getting the most headlines for going on an extended rant about how much she hates paper, particularly dry paper that people touch with dry hands. Wax paper and rolling papers don’t bother her, but she won’t even open cards and letters. I was ready to roll my eyes, but she came across well in the interview, like she was being honest about a true phobia she has while keeping a good attitude about it. She kept gagging and it didn’t seem like she was faking at all. She said she wants to go to therapy for it and you could tell talking about it helped her. Here’s some of what she said and there’s more in the video below.

I hate paper. Like looking at that [cue card] makes me want to vomit.

And then the real problem for me with paper [gags] is when people have dry hands and they touch paper and then it’s Christmas and it’s cold and everyone’s hands are dry and they’re all touching paper.

Like when someone sends me like a lovely letter, I just don’t even open it. I love text messages. No paper. Email, no paper. Phone call, no paper. It’s a phobia and I need help.

It’s getting worse and so there does need to be some sort of intervention. I am going to look into some sort of maybe EMDR being hypnotized about it because it is affecting my everyday life.

Like someone gets an Amazon box, I’m sick because the cardboard is the worst. It’s extra dry and there’s packaging in it. That’s really why I got engaged. I make my fiancé open all the packages outside.

[From YouTube]

That’s such a highly specific phobia and I’ve never heard of it before. Someone in the comments of the YouTube video said her son has “the same aversion to paper” and had a tough time doing his homework. Miley said her brothers used to taunt her with paper so that’s where it comes from. I guess there are enough workarounds with technology that she doesn’t have to confront it. Plus she’s rich and can pay people to open things for her along with having her fiance do it as she mentioned.

Kimmel asked Miley for her favorite movie song and she said it was “I Will Always Love You” from The Bodyguard, which was of course written by her godmother Dolly Parton. This reminds me that Dolly is only reachable by fax, something Miley has talked about and Dolly has confirmed. Fax paper is weirdly soft from what I remember though, so it likely doesn’t bother her. I don’t have any phobias apart from being afraid of heights, but I have misophonia, an aversion to the sound of people chewing and making mouth noises. I try to put music on when I’m eating with other people or else I start to get squirrely. Miley gagging was relatable to me for that reason.

Photos credit: PGP/Backgrid, Dave Starbuck/Future Image/Cover Images