Miley Cyrus revealed she went through an “identity crisis” after leaving her hit Disney Channel series “Hannah Montana.”
“The concept of the show is that when you’re this character, when you have this alter ego, you’re valuable,” the 28- year-old singer explained in a recent interview for Elle magazine, iHeartRadio reported Wednesday. (RELATED: Miley Cyrus Admits She May Not Have Married Liam Hemsworth If Wildfire Hadn’t Happened)
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“You’ve got millions of fans, you’re the biggest star in the world,” she added. “Then the concept was that when I looked like myself, when I didn’t have the wig on anymore, no one cared about me. I wasn’t a star anymore.” (RELATED: Miley Cyrus And Liam Hemsworth Split Up After Being Married For Less Than A Year)
“So, that was drilled into my head, like, ‘without being Hannah Montana, no one cares about you,'” Cyrus continued. “And that was the concept. I really had to break that.”
Cyrus explained she decided to be more rebellious following her Disney role and create a “characterized version” of herself for the release of the 2013 LP “Bangerz,” the outlet reported.
“I never created a character where it wasn’t me, but I was aware of how people saw me and I kind of played into it a little bit,” Miley shared. “Like, when I noticed that people gave a sh*t that I would stick my tongue out, when they told me, ‘Stop sticking your f*cking tongue out,’ I would do it more.”
“When people are pissed, that means they care, so that makes you want to do it, too,” she added.
The superstar singer played the role of “Hannah Montana” on the Disney Chanel from the age of 14 in 2006 to the age of 19 in 2011.