hannah montana
On Sunday night (Aug. 11), the 2024 Disney Legends Ceremony took place in Anaheim, Calif. and welcomed 14 new members into the prestigious group — including the youngest yet, Miley Cyrus.
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Host Ryan Seacrest noted that Cyrus entered the Disney family when she was just 13 years old (she is currently 31) and quickly took the network — and the world — by storm. A highlight reel of Cyrus’ history-making career then played, which included clips from her 2023 Disney+ special Miley Cyrus – Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), memorable scenes from Hannah Montana, early interviews and more.
As the reel wrapped, a band glided onto the stage fronted by country superstar Lainey Wilson. “Miley, you might not know this but I am truly one of your biggest fans. My very first job was taking my portable sound system and a wig…and impersonating Hannah Montana,” she recalled. (Wilson talked about the experience in her Billboard cover story). “You inspired me to believe in myself. That I, too, could be an ordinary girl living in an extraordinary world. So on behalf of Hannah Montana fans everywhere, I’d like to dedicate this song to you.”
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Wilson then ripped into a passionate cover of the Hannah Montana theme song “The Best of Both Worlds.” She even added a bit of her own present-day observations on lines like, “You go to movie premiers,” swapping out “is that Orlando Bloom?” for “is that Glen Powell?”
After the performance (which Wilson called “a dream come true”), she thanked Cyrus for “never being afraid to step outside the box, always staying true to yourself and most of all for kicking butt, no matter what, girl.”
Cyrus — who was seated alongside her mom Tish in the front row, next to other honorees such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Angela Bassett, Harrison Ford and more — then walked on stage and pulled Wilson into a warm hug. As Cyrus stepped up to the mic, she told the crowd of nearly 20,000 fans, “I am definitely going to cry,” which only warranted an even longer and louder and standing ovation.
“Before we get started,” she continued, “I’m going to let everybody in on a little Disney Legends’ secret — I’m the one that tells you what you’re not supposed to know. And what I want to say is that legends get scared too. I’m scared right now…It’s legendary to be afraid and do it anyway. There’s no such thing as failure when you try.”
Cyrus then unveiled two different speeches she prepared: “One long, if I’m the badass I’m supposed to be. And one short, if I get scared.” (Her speech spanned just over five minutes; needless to say, she chose the badass route.)
“In 2005, Disney was on a mission to rebuild and reimagine the company — that’s why they hired [Disney CEO] Bob Iger and me,” she said with a chuckle, earning a big laugh from the audience. She then recalled the “buzz” in the Burbank office where she auditioned for the role of Hannah Montana many years ago — the same office where, as she joked, “it’s rumored they create all of us Disney kids…I definitely wasn’t created in a lab, but if I was, there must’ve been a bug in the system which caused me to malfunction somewhere between the years of 2013-16.”
Joking aside, Cyrus then detailed a much earlier era in her storied life when she moved from Nashville to Los Angeles to start her career. After sharing how she got the part of Hannah Montana, she recalled her first performance as the fictional star, which took place for free at the Glendale Galleria. “The first song I opened with was titled ‘This Is The Life,’” she said. “Which of course, no one knew. Because in reality I was a little girl in a blonde wig at the mall with a big dream. But in my heart, I was Hannah Montana. And I was so proud to be her.”
“A little bit of everything has changed since that day, but at the same time, nothing has changed at all. I stand here still proud to have been Hannah Montana. Because she made Miley in so many ways. This award is dedicated to Hannah and all of her amazing, loyal fans and to everyone who has made my dream a reality. To quote the legend herself: ‘This is the life.’”
In the spirit of her new single “Used to Be Young,” Miley Cyrus is strolling down memory lane and reflecting on some of the most pivotal and controversial moments of her nearly two-decade career. For Part 15 of her Used to Be Young TikTok series, Cyrus tackled her controversial 2008 Vanity Fair photo shoot.
Fifteen years ago, Cyrus posed for the cover of Vanity Fair. The shoot was helmed by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, and featured a then-15-year-old Cyrus exposing her bare back to the camera as she wrapped her body in what appeared to be a sheet. At the time, Cryus was still starring as the titular character on Disney’s blockbuster television series Hannah Montana. The Vanity Fair shoot was intended to help further differentiate Cyrus from the character that quickly consumed her.
Upon release, Miley disregarded the potential controversy of the image saying at the time, “I mean I had a big blanket on. And I thought, ‘This looks pretty and really natural.’ I think it’s really artsy.” Nonetheless, controversy inevitably ensued, forcing Cyrus, Leibovitz and Disney to release statements apologizing for the photographs. In the years that followed, the controversy continued to obfuscate the real story and intent behind the images, “which is always much more meaningful,” according to Cyrus in her new TikTok post.
She recalls, “My little sister Noah was sitting on Annie’s lap and actually pushing the button of the camera, taking the pictures. My family was on set, and this was the first time I ever wore red lipstick because Pati Dubroff, who did my makeup, thought that that would be another element that would divide me from Hannah Montana.”
What the star calls “really brilliant choices” made in an effort to separate Miley Cyrus from Hannah Montana, the public perceived as the inappropriate hypersexualization of America’s most beloved and recognizable child star.
Cyrus’ initial apology, which she retracted via Twitter (now known as X) a decade later, read, “I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed.” For its statement, Disney went for an offensive approach, writing, “Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines.”
As for Leibovitz, she defended her work. “I’m sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted,” she said. “Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together, and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful.”
Check out Part 15 of Miley Cyrus’ Used to Be Young TikTok series:
Mitchel Musso, best known for playing Oliver Oken on Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana, was arrested on Saturday night (Aug. 26) in Rockwall, Texas, according to The Dallas Morning News.
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The 32-year-old actor was arrested after officers responded to a report that someone “who appeared intoxicated” at a hotel in Rockwall, which is about 20 miles northeast of downtown Dallas. According to the publication, Musso walked into the hotel, took a bag of chips and started eating them. He was allegedly “verbally abusive” before he left without paying. The former Disney Channel star also reportedly had multiple outstanding warrants related to traffic violations in the area.
Musso was booked on public intoxication and theft, in addition to other charges, with a total bail of $1,000. He was released on bond on Sunday, according to Morning News.
The actor starred alongside Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Emily Osment and Jason Earle in the popular Disney Channel series, Hannah Montana, that ran for four seasons from 2006 to 2011. Musso, who was born in Garland, Texas, also had roles in other popular Disney series including Phineas & Ferb, Life Is Ruff and Disney XD show Pair of Kings.
In the music world, he unveiled his self-titled debut album in 2009, which featured the popular single “Hey,” which debuted at No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His second album, Brainstorm, was released in 2010.
After a 10-year hiatus, Musso returned to music with a new single, “Drank,” which was featured on his 2022 mixtape, Ghost.
Niall Horan gave fans the ultimate blond pop star crossover when he joined Capital FM on Friday (March 17) for a fun cover of Hannah Montana’s “Best of Both Worlds.”
The “This Town” crooner chose Miley Cyrus’ Disney Channel alter ego’s theme song for his “Bedroom Covers” rendition and performed it on his acoustic guitar, surrounded by teen idol posters including one of Hannah herself.
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Horan is just months away from releasing his third solo album, The Show, which arrives on June 9. “This album is a piece of work I’m so proud of and now it’s time to pass it over to you to go and make it your own,” Horan wrote on Instagram in a post that featured the cover, in which he is depicted leaning on his elbows in a window and staring up at the title. “Thank you so much for being there for me all this time and I can’t wait to share the next couple of years of this new era with you. I’ve missed you all so much. It’s good to be back.”
The singer’s last full-length album, Heartbreak Weather, contained singles “Nice to Meet Ya,” “Put a Little Love on Me,” “No Judgement” and “Black and White”; the album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 after its March 2020 release.
In the meantime, watch Horan’s “Best of Both Worlds” cover below.
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