Miley Cyrus was the It-girl of Disney Channel throughout the 2000s. The actress played Hannah Montana on the children’s network, a role she played from the ages of 14 to 19! Since the show has ended, the singer-actress has become a huge star in Hollywood — and has opened up about how she really feels about her Disney days. Keep reading for everything she’s said. 

Starring Miley, alongside Emily OsmentMitchel MussoJason EarlesMoises Arias and Billy Ray Cyrus, Hannah Montana premiered on Disney Channel in 2006. After four seasons and one feature film, Hannah Montana said its bittersweet goodbye to the network in 2011.

In December 2020, Miley explained how she’s come to accept Hannah as a part of herself.

“I had to evolve because Hannah was larger than life, larger than me. I felt like I was never going to amount to the success of Hannah Montana,” she told Rolling Stone during an interview. “Really, Hannah Montana was not a character. The concept of the show, it’s me. I’ve had to really come to terms with that and not be third-person about it.”

In 2021, she shared a heartfelt note addressed to the character of Hannah on the show’s 15th premiere anniversary.

“Since the first time I slid those blonde bangs over my forehead in the best attempt to conceal my identity, then slipped into a puke-pink terrycloth robe with a bedazzled ‘HM’ over the [heart]. I didn’t know then … that is where you would live forever,” the actress wrote in an Instagram post. “Not just in [my heart], but [in the hearts of] millions of people around the world. Although you are considered to be an ‘alter ego,’ in reality there was a time in my life when you held more of my identity in your glove than I did in my bare hands.”

On top of that, Miley has also revealed her thoughts on possibly reprising the character for a reboot — and she’s not exactly opposed!

“Hannah’s in storage,” the former Disney Channel star explained during an appearance on the Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp radio show in September 2020. “You know when something’s like a good vintage T-shirt? Enough time has to go by and it’s good again. It goes through that period where it’s just bad because it’s old, then it’s so old that it’s good again. That’s why we have to wait.”

Miley continued, “Hannah is like a fine wine. We gotta wait until she’s ready.”

Scroll through our gallery for everything Miley has said about her Disney Channel days.

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