Miley’s journey through the pop machine is anything but boring; now 32 and sober, she’s unpacking it all
Miley Cyrus is no stranger to reinvention. From Disney Channel sweetheart to chart-topper, the 32-year-old pop star has carved a career defined by transformation. But on the Every Single Album podcast, Cyrus opened up about her early experiences with drugs and the chaos that shaped her 2015 experimental album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz. The singer gave fans an intimate look into what she now sees as a wild chapter in her life. “The drugs were the biggest cost,” she admitted.“Which, to hide those from my accountant, we called them vintage clothes.”
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus
Cyrus didn’t shy away from revealing a few details. “She [the accountant] would get these checks. That happens on touring all the time,” Miley explained. “And every time she saw me, she'd be like, ‘Where's that, like, $15,000 original John Lennon T-shirt that you bought?’ And I’d say, ‘Oh, it’s upstairs.’” The star continued, “We just really want to protect it. It's really delicate. The fabric…got to take care of it! So I bought a lot of vintage clothes that year.” That “vintage” wardrobe, of course, was code for her extravagant drug use.
As she looks back, Cyrus is also full of gratitude. “I’m so glad I survived that time in my life,” she said. “I would definitely not encourage anyone else to go this hard, but the fact that I got through it… I’m very glad I got to do it.” The singer has since been on a journey of sobriety. In an old 2017 interview with Billboard, she described herself as “evolving” after quitting marijuana. She’s been sober since 2019, aside from a brief relapse during the pandemic. These days, sobriety is non-negotiable: “That’s like my God. I need it,” she says.
On the work front, Cyrus recently brought fans to tears with a rendition of one of her most nostalgic songs — The Climb, a ballad from Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009) that once defined her Disney era. She also joked about how her drummer boyfriend, Maxx Morando, has been waiting since middle school to play this song.
