Miley Cyrus Talks Growing Past ‘Hannah Montana’ and Hiding Her Drug Purchases From Accountant

Miley Cyrus opened up about growing past Hannah Montana, the role that made her famous, and how she hid her drug purchases from her accountant in a new podcast.

Cyrus starred in the Disney Channel series from 2006-11 as a middle schooler who was living a double life as a famous pop star named Hannah Montana. Cyrus recently appeared on The Ringer’s Every Single Album podcast to talk about her discography, where she opened up about growing up and moving past the role. That was a challenge because her identity was so wrapped up with the character.

“I am Hannah in some way, like truly like the identity behind her. She was not really something that was made on paper,” Cyrus said in the interview.

Asked if she had to “separate yourself from yourself” as a result when she left Disney, Cyrus replied: “I guess I was. It was before I had a license and I started doing things that Hannah wouldn’t be doing because it’s like a Barbie, you know, she’s just like, she’s kind of sexless in that way. And I started, you know, ‘living,’ we shall call it. And I remember thinking, this is going to be very awkward to now wear tutus and Doc Martens [Hannah’s signature look]. … I remember one of the directors was like, it’s like now the lion’s been let out of the cage and it’s like seen where it’s come from and you’re going to have a really hard time walking yourself back into the zoo.”

She continued: “There I go like, you know, you see the lion that it’s not walking itself. It’s like on a chained collar and it’s being dragged or prodded into the thing and you’re going to have to do that. And I remember just kind of going like now I feel like I’m a little bit of a fraud because these like kids are looking at me as this kind of like sexless thing. And now I know what all this is, and it feels a little bit sillier putting the wig on now. But it wasn’t until, like, I was probably 15 or 16, and then there was still more seasons of that, and that’s when I started pushing more. But what was interesting is as I started to push Hannah forward, they actually started to kind of try to reel her in because I think it’s just scary for them.”

Cyrus said that, as a result, she would try to put her own stamp on some of the songs she recorded and performed. 

But “I didn’t know to like ask for songwriting credit because I didn’t even know because I’m like, well, it’s going to say ‘Hannah Montana’ and I’m Hannah Montana, so that’s enough credit for me,” she said. “But now I’m like, I should have really had more credit in there because I was shaping that whole identity of the thing. And a lot of the songs were written off experiences that I was having.”

Cyrus also revealed that drugs were “a super important part” of the creative process for her 2015 album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz.

“The drugs were the biggest cost,” she said. “To hide those from my accountant, we called them vintage clothes and so she would get these checks of thousands of dollars worth of vintage clothes. And every time she saw me, she’d be like, ‘Where’s that like $15,000 original John Lennon T-shirt that you bought?’ It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s upstairs. Would you like some?’ So I bought a lot of ‘vintage clothes’ that year.”

Cyrus is currently promoting “Something Beautiful,” a film that premiered Friday at the Tribeca Film Festival. (It also led to some drama after a handful fans who bought tickets at $800 pop became upset when they realized she would not be performing at the event.)