“They Have To Give Me This Award”: Miley Cyrus Got Brutally Honest About Becoming The Youngest Person Ever To Recieve The “Disney Legend” Title
Miley Cyrus is looking back on her intense Disney years.
Many of us were first introduced to Miley on the 2000s Disney Channel show Hannah Montana, in which she starred as Miley Stewart, an everyday girl living a double life as a pop star.
She made her debut as Hannah/Miley in 2006 at the age of 13, and by the time the show’s fourth and final season aired in 2011, real-life Miley was one of the best-known teenagers on the planet.
Unfortunately, however, her global fame came at a cost. From her infamous 2008 Vanity Fair cover to her controversial “stripper pole” performance at the Teen Choice Awards in 2009, Miley was subject to much scrutiny as she navigated her teenage years in the spotlight.
But, despite all that came with it, Miley looks back on her time as a Disney kid pretty fondly. And in turn, the company has decided to honor her at the Disney Legends Awards Ceremony in August.
Along with 13 others, including Angela Bassett, James Cameron, and Harrison Ford, Miley will be officially named a Disney Legend — a title Disney CEO Bob Iger has described as “the highest honor” a person can receive from the company.
The 2024 Disney Legend honorees lineup was announced in March, and now, in a new interview with W magazine, Miley reflected on all the hard work that led her to become the youngest person ever to be given such an honor by the Walt Disney Company.
“People have 50- or 60-year-long careers, but mine has been close to 20 years, and I’m 31. I have been in the public for more of my life than I haven’t,” she said, describing her Disney years as “a great, safe experience overall.”
“They say that the creative adult is the child who survived. I worked really hard as a child,” she continued.
Recalling the abnormality of her teenage years, Miley emphasized that Disney was “doing very well off of the amount of work that [she] was putting in as a child.”
“I didn’t go to prom. I didn’t go to dances. I didn’t have so much of that social experience or time for friends,” she said before clarifying that she doesn’t “have any bad feelings” about how Disney capitalized on her hard work as a kid.
In light of this, Miley was pretty frank about the fact that she feels more than deserving of the Disney Legend honor. “It’s just the truth,” she expressed. “And so I think they have to give me this award.”
“It’s a place to celebrate the journey of both being on and graduating from Disney,” she said of the award, adding that she’s “excited to celebrate that with the fans.”
Last August, Miley shocked fans by airing an intense 13-hour work schedule from around the time she was making Hannah Montana in her early teens. The workday started at 5:30 a.m. with hair and makeup and didn’t end until after 6 p.m. once she’d taken part in several interviews and shoots.
“I’m probably 12 or 13,” she said as she recalled the grueling schedule in a video promoting her single, “Used to Be Young.” “7 a.m. — we get picked up. 7:15 a.m. — I’m on the news. 7:45 — I have another live interview. 8:15 — another interview. 8:45 — another interview. 9:30 to 11 a.m. — meeting with editors, back to the hotel.”
“1 to 2:30 — me and my dad have a lunch interview. 2:40 — we have to go to the Life magazine photoshoot. 3 to 5 — interview and photoshoot for the Father’s Day issue. Arrive at 6 p.m. for kids’ online interview then at 6:15 we have another interview,” she said, finally noting: “I’m a lot of things but lazy ain’t one of them.”
A Disney Legend, indeed. You can read Miley’s full W magazine interview here.
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