Miley Cyrus: Playing ‘Hannah Montana’ Created ‘Body Dysmorphia’

“Hannah Montana” may have launched Miley Cyrus’ career, but the star says there was a price to pay for her stardom at such a young age.

In a new interview with Marie Claire, Miley admitted that her years as the Disney title character created significant body issues for her to deal with.

“From the time I was 11, it was, ‘You’re a pop star! That means you have to be blonde, and you have to have long hair, and you have to put on some glittery tight thing.’ Meanwhile, I’m this fragile little girl playing a 16-year-old in a wig and a ton of makeup. It was like ‘Toddlers & Tiaras’,” Miley told the magazine in an interview for their new September issue.

Miley Cyrus on the cover of Marie Claire (Sept. 2015)

“I was made to look like someone that I wasn’t, which probably caused some body dysmorphia because I had been made pretty every day for so long, and then when I wasn’t on that show, it was like, Who the f**k am I?” she added.

But it wasn’t just emotional stress that Miley was forced to deal with – there was also a physical toll on the young starlet.

“I would have anxiety attacks. I’d get hot flashes, feel like I was about to pass up or throw up. It would happen a lot before shows, and I’d have to cancel. Then the anxiety started coming from anxiety,” she continued. “You get in this hole that seems like you’re never going to be able to get out of.”

Now grown up and more-than-comfortable in her own skin, Miley knows exactly who she is and exactly who she wants to be – and, as she told Marie Claire, she has no desire to conform to any social celebrity stereotypes.

“I’m probably never going to be the face of a traditional beauty company unless they want a weed-smoking, liberal-ass freak,” Miley noted. “But my dream was never to sell lip gloss. My dream is to save the world.”

— Eric Anderson

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