Miley Cyrus seems to be growing up, or at least developing a more grown-up attitude about a lot of teen anxieties, not to mention a few adult hangups, like say, over her infamous Vanity Fair photos and other provocative incidents.
In a new interview in Harper’s Bazaar, the Hannah Montana sensation provides some insights into her controversial semi-nude Annie Lebovitz photos and talks in general about growing up in the spotlight.
Cyrus became an entertainment juggernaut as party of the Disney machine that creates and spits out child stars with frightening regularity. Some go on to become big stars, others fade into obscurity.
That’s the crossroads that Miley is facing after turning 17 and getting ready for her last season as teen sensation Hannah, who lives a double life as high school student by day, and rock star at night.
The Vanity Fair photo shoot vaulted Miley into the national consciousness as the saucy, good-bad girl, and touched off a ton of finger wagging. But she says people read waay too much into the photos.
“Here, my parents are thinking they’re seeing a beautiful picture by a major photographer, and the people of America want to see something dirty in that?” Miley asks rhetorically.
“It doesn’t make sense to us, because [my family] doesn’t look for negativity. But people don’t want to say ‘What a great performance’ or ‘What a great shot.’ No one wants to look at something like that and see the positive because it doesn’t sell a magazine.”
The phootshoot, however, was followed by a number of provocative incidents, including the leaking of racy private photos on the Internet that were counter to her then squeaky clean, religious image.
Then came a string of almost revealing wardrobe malfunctions, pole dancing and a tattoo!
“My job is to be a role model, and that’s what I want to do, but my job isn’t to be a parent,” she says. “My job isn’t to tell your kids how to act or how not to act, because I’m still figuring that out for myself. So to take that away from me is a bit selfish. Your kids are going to make mistakes whether I do or not. That’s just life.”
Miley’s first shot at a major adult role will come in the film “The Last Song,” Â about a rebellious teen reconnecting with her father (Greg Kinnear).
“People will be really surprised when they see it,” she says. “It’s pretty deep. I want to do edgier movies—movies where you walk away feeling fulfilled.”
Miley will turn 18 this year and finally will be legally an adult in most ways. But she seems more than ready to make the leap into adulthood — and seems pretty secure in her own skin.
“I used to ask everyone all day, ‘Do I look pretty?’ I probably asked that question about as many times as I blink,” she said.
“It’s not about how because I started feeling beautiful; it’s just because I was comfortable. I was so used to the paparazzi and the cameras and the ‘What are you wearing?’ and having people stare at me.”
