Miley Cyrus is reflecting on her controversial Bangerz era.
The actress and singer, 31, accepted her Disney Legend award — a Disney-esque hall of fame induction — at the company’s D23 fan convention in Anaheim, California, on Sunday, August 11, and spoke candidly about the years she tried to shake off her wholesome Hannah Montana image.
“In 2005, Disney was on a mission to rebuild and reimagine the company — that’s why they hired [Disney CEO] Bob Iger and me,” Cyrus joked, per Billboard.
Cyrus, who starred on Hannah Montana from 2006 to 2011, recalled auditioning for the role in Disney’s Burbank, California, office and joked “it’s rumored” that’s where “they create all of us Disney kids.”
“I definitely wasn’t created in a lab, but if I was, there must’ve been a bug in the system which caused me to malfunction somewhere between the years of 2013 and [20]16,” she then quipped.
After leaving the Disney Channel show behind, Cyrus cultivated a more grown-up image, releasing her first non-Disney album, Bangerz, in 2013. The pop star posed nude in the video for her hit song “Wrecking Ball” and infamously twerked on stage with Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. Both stars received criticism for the sexually suggestive performance.
Elsewhere in the speech, a teary Cyrus said, “I stand here still proud to have been Hannah Montana.”
“In so many ways, this award is dedicated to Hannah and all of her amazing loyal fans, and to everyone who has made my dream a reality. To quote the legend herself, ‘This is the life,’” the “Flowers” singer added, paying tribute to her former alter-ego.
Cyrus has previously opened up about her bumpy transition from Disney Channel star to a 20-something pop star.
“Everything I’ve ever done has been true to me at that minute,” she told The New York Times of her VMAs performance in 2015. “Even down to my TV show — when I started I was 12 years old, and that was like a dream to me. So that was my truth at that moment.”
“Me coming out of that teddy bear, to me, wasn’t just a teddy bear. My dad always explained it to me that you step into your happiness,” she explained. “That’s kind of like what I was doing. When I broke down the bear belly, I was really breaking out — my show ended, and then I didn’t really work for two years. That’s when I did my most self-exploration. [The performance] was kind of going into this way of saying, ‘I’m just going to do what will make me happy.’ At that moment, that’s what really made me happy.”
