Miley Cyrus couldn’t hold back the tears as she acknowledged the role she played as a child star for making her “dream a reality”.
The singer rose to fame playing Hannah Montana in the Disney Channel series which first aired in 2006 when she was 13.
On Sunday, she received a standing ovation as she became the youngest person to be honoured with Disney Legends status at Disney’s biennial fan convention, D23.
Country singer Lainey Wilson introduced Cyrus with a rendition of the Hannah Montana theme song The Best Of Both Worlds, before thanking the star for “never being afraid to step outside the box”.
It was a poignant moment also for Wilson, who was a Hannah Montana impersonator before making it big in her own right.
🎶@LaineyWilson brings us the Best of Both Worlds! pic.twitter.com/DpqaTQZoPj
— Disney D23 (@DisneyD23) August 12, 2024
Cyrus’ sister Brandi even sharing a clip online of her singing along to Wilson’s energetic performance.
Addressing the 12,000-strong crowd at the Honda Centre in Anaheim, California, home of Disneyland, Cyrus said “a little bit of everything has changed” since she shot her first scenes as a teenager leading a double life as a famous pop star “but at the same time nothing has changed at all”.
“I stand here still proud to have been Hannah Montana,” the 31-year-old said.
“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,” she continued, referencing the 2006 Hannah Montana track which featured on the show.
During her speech, Cyrus made a witty reference to rumours that Disney kids are created in the Californian Disney office.
“I definitely wasn’t created in a lab,” she said.
“And if I was, there must have been a bug in the system which caused me to malfunction somewhere between the years of 2013 and 2016,” she joked, referencing her Wrecking Ball era.
Cyrus became emotional on stage when giving advice about fear.
“What I want to say is that legends get scared too,” she said.
“I’m scared right now, but the difference is we do it anyway and all of you can do that every single day.
“It’s legendary to be afraid and do it anyway. There is no such thing as failure when you try, that’s the only way you lose.”
Cyrus won her first two Grammys earlier this year for her 2023 break-up song Flowers.
