Miley Cyrus may be big on the tripped-out costumes and crazy onstage antics, but she said that all of that is outweighed by helping her fans overcome issues of identity and depression — two things she understands all too well.
“I have guys and girls that come out, and they’re like, ‘The only reason I’m able to admit that I’m gay is because you’ve made me feel like that’s OK,’ ” Cyrus told Tavi Gevinson in the latest issue of Elle. “That is so intense, because that is a part of this generation — it wasn’t always accepted — and I feel like I am a big part of that change.”
“Or they know that I’ve struggled with depression, and that helped them get over theirs,” she added. “That gives me a big purpose — a reason to wake up in the morning that’s bigger than to put on my f–king feathers and my little outfits.”
Still, Cyrus defends those onstage foibles to a certain degree, asserting that she is a feminist and adding, “Guy rappers grab their crotch all f–king day and have hos around them, but no one talks about it. But if I grab my crotch and I have hot model bitches around me, I’m degrading women? I’m a woman — I should be able to have girls around me! But I’m part of the evolution of that. I hope.”
The Cyrus/Gevinson interview promises to reveal more about Cyrus’ own evolution as well — from Disney star to pop musician. Cyrus opines that Disney stardom was a positive experience for her in the excerpt, sharing how hard it was to suddenly be without both that support system and her ex-fiancé Liam Hemsworth.
“Now I’m free of both of those things, and I’m fine,” she said. “Like, I lay in bed at night by myself and I’m totally OK, and that’s so much stronger than the person three years ago, who would have thought they would have died if they didn’t have a boyfriend.”
It sounds like Gevinson went into it with Cyrus, hinting at the same kind of peer-to-peer deep-dive that the 17-year-old writer executed with fellow teen Lorde.
The full interview is slated to hit stands on April 22.
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