Miley Cyrus is not afraid to experiment with her look — and she knows her fans and critics are watching her every move.
The “Plastic Hearts” singer, 28, opened up in two new interviews with Howard Stern and Rolling Stone about how her physical appearance affects the way she’s perceived by the public.
“There’s an idea that during the ‘Younger Now’ era, I was pure. The media likes to have my hair or what I look like be the point of reference for my sanity,” Cyrus told Rolling Stone.
“‘Hair’s long and blond, she’s sane right now. She cannot be f—ked up on drugs. It’s when her hair is painted or she’s growing out her armpit hair [that] she’s on drugs.’”
“Dude, I was way more off my path at that time than any of the times before where my sanity was being questioned,” she continued, referencing her drug and alcohol use while “playing house” with then-husband Liam Hemsworth, whom she married in 2018 and filed to divorce in 2019.
Shortly after their split, Miley started her journey to sobriety and has been candid about her struggles and setbacks during the coronavirus pandemic.
She also cut her long blond hair into a “modern mullet” to accompany her new rock era.
Cyrus also told Stern that she can trace the obsession with her hair back to her “Hannah Montana” days, when her character, Miley Stewart, would transform into the titular pop star by putting on a blond wig.
“The whole show’s premise was that when I had my normal hair and looked like myself, no one gave a s—t about me.
And then when I got all dolled up and put a wig on, all of a sudden, you know, I’m being chased by people chasing my tour bus. So, that’s a lot to put on a kid,” she told Stern.
“My hair is some sort of reflection for my sanity, my sexuality, my sobriety,” Cyrus continued.
“The public really makes my hair, I guess, the kind of monitor of how I am doing, and it’s really not their fault that they associate my hair and my identity and my wellbeing so closely because I basically, we drilled that into their brains for eight years of a series.”
When it comes to her hair, Miley Cyrus can’t be tamed. Since hitting it big as Hannah Montana in the mid-2000s, the superstar has experimented with nearly every style under the sun, from waist-length waves to platinum-blond pixies and mini buns to mullets.
Ahead, take a look at Cyrus’ beauty evolution over the years — and just try to guess which ‘do she’ll try next.