“Talk about an identity crisis”: Hannah Montana Made Our Childhoods Better But Had Serious Consequences for Miley Cyrus
One of the popular American sitcoms is Hannah Montana, which most of us can recall watching as a teenager. Miley Cyrus played the protagonist, ‘Miley Stewart’ aka ‘Hannah Montana,’ in the four seasons-long television show that started in 2006. The actress’s career changed forever as she gained fame due to the show’s success but also led to some personal issues which she took time to overcome.
Hannah Montana revolved around the life of Miley Stewart, who was also a popular singer using the stage name, ‘Hannah Montana’ living a double life as a teenager. Stewart wears a blonde wig to hide her identity when she performs, but throughout the season, her close friends find it out. The show deals with her daily struggles to cope with her personal and social life as a teenager while maintaining her public identity as a pop singer, which is sustained by wearing a blonde wig.
Disney’s show was created by Michael Poryes, Rich Correll and Barry O’Brien and aired on Disney channel for four years (2006-2011). Other than Cyrus, the cast included Emily Osment as ‘Lilly Truscott,’ and Jason Earles as ‘Jackson Stewart.’ The cast also included Mitchel Musso as ‘Oliver Oken’ and Cyrus’s father, ‘Billy Ray Cyrus’ as her fictional father in the show, ‘Robby Stewart.’
Miley Cyrus said, “I wasn’t a star anymore” after Hannah Montana ended
According to USA Today, Miley Cyrus talked about her experience playing a teen and a pop singer in a single character. The actress revealed that she didn’t have the “best of both worlds.” The singer added that she felt that she was not being taken care of while she played the character with a dual identity.
On the “Rock This with Allison Hagendorf” podcast, Cyrus said, “Talk about an identity crisis.” She added, “I was a character almost as often as I was myself, and the concept of the show is that when you’re this character and when you have this alter ego, you’re valuable.” The actress revealed that when she looked at herself without wearing the blonde wig, no one cared about her. She mentioned that “I wasn’t a star anymore. That was drilled into my head, like without being Hannah Montana no one cares about you.”
Miley Cyrus told how it was difficult to get over with the character she played for four years. Additionally, rebuilding herself and starting from scratch was not an easy journey as the actress mentioned.
Miley Cyrus was not the first choice for the lead role in Disney’s sitcom
Also Read: “It destroyed my family”: Billy Ray Cyrus Hates What Hannah Montana Did to Miley Cyrus
During the initial stages of casting for Hannah Montana, Alexis Texas, Hannah Cabana, and Samantha York were considered to play the leading girl. The plot was supposed to be about a popular child actor from a television show who decided to play a regular school life. Back then, the lead character’s name was decided to be ‘Chloe Stewart.’ This idea was inspired by Disney’s hit series, That’s So Raven (2003-2007).
Cyrus initially auditioned to play Lilly Truscott, who is Miley Strewart’s best friend, originally played by Emily Osment. The situation on the screen was reversed. Osment auditioned to play the lead role but didn’t get through it, eventually, Cyrus was fit to play the character and was also good at singing.
