Sweet niblets! The world just can’t believe that, as of last week, it has been an entire 13 years since a 12-year-old Miley Cyrus hopped off a plane at LAX with a dream and her cardigan to become Malibu’s popstar sweetheart, Hannah Montana. It’s safe to assume that with Miley’s continuously transformative career, we’ve certainly seen the best of both worlds over the years. On the 13th anniversary of the very first episode, Cyrus blessed fans by sharing a handful of hilarious throwback snapshots that were accompanied by some humorously crude captions that fans have come to expect from the “Can’t Be Tamed” singer.
Many of the captions referred to past scandals that Cyrus has been connected to. For instance, one Instagram story featured a visibly surprised Hannah Montana with a caption that read: “Hannah Montana watching the 2013 VMAs.” If you consider yourself a true Miley Cyrus fan, or a fan of pop culture in general, this caption served as a direct reference to Miley’s jaw-dropping twerk-a-thon performance, alongside Robin Thicke, that really marked her severance of ties from the Disney Channel family. As an avid advocate for gay rights, Cyrus even utilized the anniversary celebration to showcase her support for the LGBTQ+ community; Cyrus posted a photo of Hannah Montana in a boxing ring with the caption “@hannahmontana ready to FIGHT for gay rights!”
The celebration of the Hannah Montana pilot did surprise some fans, considering the fact that Cyrus proclaimed Hannah Montana to be dead on her 2013 SNL episode. While Cyrus has admitted to the lasting, and sometimes negative, effect that early fame has had on her adult life, she still looks back fondly on the experience by saying it was a “good time.” She has cited the hardest part of the job as having to tour as alter ego, Hannah Montana, and herself at the same time. Cyrus has even gone as far as saying that her job as Hannah Montana may have even done “extreme damage” to her “psyche as an adult person” in her interview with CBS Sunday Morning.
Courtesy of People
Despite Cyrus’s struggles after her four-season stint on Disney Channel, she has continued to find success in Hollywood and beyond. Cyrus founded a nonprofit organization called Happy Hippie that aims to rally young adults to fight injustices against LGBTQ+ youth, homeless youth and many other vulnerable and neglected populations. Also, since the conclusion of the Jessie versus Jake Ryan love triangle, Cyrus and on-again-off-again fiancé, Liam Hemsworth, officially tied the knot with a private ceremony in December of 2018. Besides Cyrus’s post-Disney success, the other Hannah Montana characters have also found new projects to immerse themselves in. Since the ending of Hannah Montana, Emily Osment, who plays Miley’s best friend Lily, starred as the frontrunner in her own sitcom, Young and Hungry. After playing Miley’s teasing older brother, Jackson, Jason Earles starred in a karate-themed show on Disney channel called Kickin’ It. Moisés Arias, our favorite nemesis, has most recently starred alongside Cole Sprouse in the 2019 romantic drama Five Feet Apart. Finally, Mitchell Musso, co-creator of the beloved cheese jerky, continued his part as Jeremy Johnson on Phineas and Ferb, released music and starred in other Disney sitcoms like Pair of Kings.