Entertainment
Miley Cyrus is known for courting controversy with unique aplomb. Whether she's dancing provocatively with Robin Thicke at the VMAs, or getting "p*ssy" tattooed on her ankle, people will always have some comment to make.
Now, Cyrus has opened up about her sexuality in order to aim the non-profit organisation, the Happy Hippie Foundation, which aims to combat youth homelessness within the LGBTQ+ community.
During her appearance on RuPaul's podcast, RuPaul: What's the Tee with Michelle Visage, the singer revealed that her first kiss was with a girl.
"When I was kind of growing up, being from the South...my first kiss was with a girl in middle school," Cyrus said. "And no one could understand, in Nashville, saying that...so I had that relationship."
The 26-year-old then went onto discuss the responsibility she feels to use her platform to spread a message of inclusivity - a burden she's felt from her early days as a Disney Channel star. "I was one of the only kids on Disney that would come out and say that I supported all my gay friends. No one really would say that, so that was always really important to me."
"Even aside from being about sexuality, it represents being your f*cking self. It doesn’t have to attach to who you love, it’s about you loving yourself," she added.
Cyrus also discussed her stint on Hannah Montana, and drew a comparison between the queens on RuPaul's Drag Race, and the teen series, which saw her character lead a double life as an ordinary school girl and a famous pop star.
"I loved the show because I realised all these kids, especially on Instagram now, there’s these young boys and girls, 10 years old, doing drag. I’m like, wonder where they got that idea!" she asserted.
However, she does have some regrets about her start in the entertainment industry. "From 18 to probably two years ago, I hated it," she said as she reminisced over her Can't Be Tamed era. "Since the last record, my last record was called Younger Now and it says, even though it’s not who I am, I’m not afraid of who I used to be. That was my epiphany."
"I didn’t really get to be a kid very much, because I worked so much. But I wanted that. I’m not a sob story of someone made me or cracked the whip, I wanted it."
The erstwhile Disney star also recently opened up about an altercation she had with Donald Trump after her infamous 2013 VMAs performance, and it's all sorts of creepy.
During a cover story interview for Vanity Fair, the Wrecking Ball singer recalled how Donald Trump called her the day after the VMAs to "congratulate" her on her performance. Cyrus was residing at Trump Tower in New York City at the time.
"I loved it," he proceeded to say, making the interchange more uncomfortable. We should also bear in mind that Cyrus was was around 19-years-old at the time, while Trump was 66-years-old.
Cyrus didn't disclose how she responded to Trump's lewd comments, but she has reflected on that risqué VMAs performance in the past. "In the beginning, it was kind of like saying, ‘[Screw] you. Girls should be able to have this freedom or whatever," she told Harper's Bazaar back in 2017. "But it got to a point where I did feel sexualised."