Miley Cyrus put in the work to become the best version of herself.
Thanks to an in depth interview the singer did with The New York Times, fans are getting a glimpse into how.
On How Her Mom’s Influence on Her Life
Cyrus is an open book when it comes to her mother, Tish. The two are nearly inseparable. Even the mere mention of Tish not being in the same room as Cyrus puts the singer in an emotional state.
“Yes, Tish, my mom, she’s everything,” Cyrus says. “…if nature plays its course in the way that it does, I will be an individual without my mom at some point in my lifetime. And that used to just completely paralyze me in fear.”
Cyrus continued by referencing how she mothers herself, utilizing what she’s learned as a sort of safety net.
“Because I knew any situation that I was in that I didn’t feel safe in, my mom would get me out of it,” she adds. “Or make it better. Figure out what it is that was making me feel that way and her helped me adjust it. And so now I just imagined what soothed me so much about her. And then I just do it for myself.”
On Allowing Herself to Feel Emotions
The singer is also at a point in her life when she’s allowing herself to feel whatever emotions drum up, whenever. Over the course of the interview, Cyrus was open about her emotional state and where that stemmed from. Of course, it related back to her mother.
“When I think about being born, the first person that I saw was my grandma. And it gets me emotional. My mom was adopted and so being able to be put into her arms and immediately think, it just, it’s deep,” she figures.
“It’s like way before me, you know. There’s so much there. And when I think about these moments in my life, being handed to her when I was first born and then when [my grandmother] passed away, both of those moments were so beautiful to me.”
“And one of them is really joyous, and one of them is really painful, but they’re equally beautiful. That’s why I think I’ve made this album, is just to reclaim what beauty is, because I think birth is beautiful. I think death is beautiful,” Cyrus concludes.
When the topic of rage is proposed, Cyrus is very blunt on what to do with those feelings that have been said to be ugly.
“You have to get it out,” Cyrus posits. “I had physical pain in my body for years and I realized it’s because I didn’t let myself be angry. A lot of women that I’ve known that go ‘Man, I have hip pain or have joint pain,’ and then I watch them in their lives [without getting angry]… “Yes, please, thank you.”
Cyrus adds an anecdote about how her mother is always polite but will suffer from a headache that she believes comes from not expressing angry feelings.
“And I told her, I was like, ‘Mom, you gotta get real mad!’” the singer throws in. “So I think rage and anger is something that we should let ourselves feel, but it’s just keep it to yourself. You know, you use it.”
On When She Knew She Could Sing
When she was a child, Cyrus wasn’t an attention seeker yet she was always the center of attention.
“I definitely noticed that there was something magnetic between me and other people, and I don’t say they were magnetized to me,” Cyrus says of the people who would go on to orbit her. “We were magnetized to each other.”
“But then with the singing, I would sing onstage and I didn’t know if people were cheering because I was little and it was cute for me to come out and do Elvis songs. I never really thought, like, ‘Oh, I can really sing,’ she adds. “I just knew that people were reacting, and that’s what I was going off of. I was watching people light up and going: ‘That’s what I want. I want you to react to me.’”
On Leaving the Disney Persona Behind
In 2013 after twerking on stage – which Cyrus explicitly does not regret doing – the singer says she was trying to differentiate who she was at the time from Hannah Montana. One thing the star has over the people that judged her is empathy.
“I see adults not acting like it. I would never look at someone that’s 18, 19, 20, 21 years old and judge them as an adult, because they’re not yet. At one point, there was even a petition. It was like ‘Millions of Moms Against Miley’ or something.’”
“In 2013, maybe that performance felt really shocking, but when you watch it back, it really wasn’t that wild. I was dressed as a teddy bear. And when you look at culture now, young people, they sing about sex all the time. And by the way, they sing about sex way before I did, too,” Cyrus states. “So that’s the thing. But for me, I think what I see is, what I see in myself is being bold and courageous and having the guts. And I see myself being authentic to me.”
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Inside Miley Cyrus’ Journey of Self-Discovery and Strength: ‘I See Myself Being Authentic to Me’