Miley Cyrus made a striking appearance on her latest magazine cover, wearing a revealing bedazzled top that showcased her cleavage and toned midriff. The 33-year-old singer has been actively promoting her upcoming Disney+ concert special, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of her breakthrough sitcom, Hannah Montana.
Dolly Parton's Unconventional Wisdom
In a cover interview with Variety, Cyrus revealed that she learned a valuable lesson from her godmother, country music legend Dolly Parton. "She told me that if you want something to happen, promote it before it exists. Then no one can say no," Cyrus explained. She described this as "this terrible habit - but I actually think it was good advice."
Cyrus applied this strategy to the Hannah Montana anniversary special. "So I just started promoting a Hannah 20th-anniversary special that literally did not exist," she remarked. The series, which aired on Disney Channel from 2006 to 2011, followed the double life of high school student Miley Stewart and her pop star alter ego.
Fashion and Photography Highlights
The magazine photoshoot featured Cyrus in several eye-catching outfits. One image showed her modeling a flesh-flashing netted top that highlighted her impressively chiseled midriff. Another captured her sprawled across a chaise lounge in gleaming skintight silver trousers, shooting a sultry stare at the camera with a distinctly 1980s aesthetic.
Retracting a Past Apology
During the interview, Cyrus also addressed her controversial 2008 Vanity Fair cover, for which she had previously apologized. At just 15 years old and still starring in Hannah Montana, she appeared topless with a bedsheet draped across her front.
"I remember sitting at the family computer looking at what people were saying about me," she recalled. "I wasn’t sorry so much as I was embarrassed by the reaction, and it felt like it would put out a lot of fires for me to be apologetic." Cyrus now believes "I don’t think it was apology-worthy, because I didn’t do anything wrong."
Professional and Personal Bonds
Cyrus and Parton share both a personal connection and professional collaborations, including co-hosting a New Year's Eve special as 2022 transitioned into 2023. When asked about potentially portraying Parton in a biopic, Cyrus humorously noted, "I'm sucked, I'm tucked and plucked, just like she taught me," to E! News.
"Me and Dolly have never really spoken, honestly, about me playing Dolly because I feel like I'm already doing it," she added, joking about the challenges of replicating Parton's famously sizable bust. Cyrus has frequently expressed her admiration for Parton, even releasing a cover of Parton's 1973 hit "Jolene."
Parton's Support During Turbulent Times
In 2019, Parton offered supportive words for Cyrus during a period of personal upheaval. That year, Cyrus split from husband Liam Hemsworth, briefly dated Kaitlynn Carter, and then began a relationship with longtime friend Cody Simpson.
"Lord, I’ve done everything, and what I ain’t done, I intend to," Parton told People. "She’s going to do that, too. But Miley’s smart; Miley knows what she’s doing." Parton emphasized that "I’ve told her some things that I think are valuable and that she uses, but I’d rather live an example" and "be an example rather than just try to tell somebody to do this, do that because I don’t think that’s right."
The "9 To 5" star concluded, "Everybody's different. You’ve got your own journey. And some people are going to help you along the way and they can kick a few rocks out of the road for you, but you got to walk it."
