If anyone can relate to the challenges that come along with being a child star, it’s Miley Cyrus. But one thing she had that many of her peers didn’t was a famous parent on set with her at all times — something she says likely protected her from any potential for abuse in the industry while she was filming Hannah Montana.
In a Wednesday (March 18) cover story interview for Variety, the pop star reflected on how acting alongside her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, on the iconic Disney Channel series — which will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a Disney+ special starring Miley on March 24 — may have shielded her from the mistreatment some former child stars allege they faced when they were younger. The country singer played the dad of his real-life daughter’s titular character on Hannah Montana.
“My dad was on set every single day, so there was nothing that could happen that he wouldn’t know about,” Miley told the publication, which noted that her dressing area back in the day was connected to her dad’s room on set. “There was never a time where I was going to be alone in that dressing room.”
The Grammy winner also recalled how her mother, Tish Cyrus, pushed for Billy Ray to be cast as Robby Ray Stewart on the children’s series so that the Cyrus clan could all be together in Los Angeles while Miley — who was the first in the family to nab a part on the show — was filming. It helped, too, that her dad had a successful music and acting career long before Hannah Montana was created, Miley said.
“My parents didn’t need me to be famous to survive or to be stable,” she told Variety. “What happens to a lot of these kids is their parents want it more than they do, or the kids become responsible for the entire income of the family. That was never my job. Every penny I ever made went into my bank account because my parents were good.”
Contextualizing Miley’s conversation about child-star abuse are the allegations made against Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon in 2024 documentary Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. The series explored claims accusing Schneider of fostering an environment of inappropriate/predatory behavior on the set of shows starring underage actors such as Drake & Josh and Victorious, which the producer has denied; he sued Warner Bros. and others behind the program for defamation after the documentary’s release on the Investigation Discovery network.
“I think that the environment needs to be made safer if kids are going to be acting,” Ariana Grande, a Victorious alum, said in a Podcrushed interview after Quiet on Set premiered. “I think there should be therapists. I think there should be parents allowed to be wherever they wanna be.”
See Miley on the cover of Variety below.
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