25 Things You Didn’t Know About Miley Cyrus

1. Miley Cyrus’ birth name was “Destiny Hope Cyrus” but legally had it changed in 2008 to fit her stage name: “Miley Ray Cyrus.” Her middle name she shares with her famous father and her grandfather, Ronald Ray Cyrus. “Miley,” by itself, isn’t actually a name. It’s a shortened version of the nickname she earned as a baby from her constant grinning: “Smiley.” That got slimmed down and the moniker stuck with her. Today only her grandmother is still allowed to call her by her birth name. [source]

2. The singer lives with a non-fatal heart disease, tachycardia. This condition signifies that the carrier has a higher than average resting heart rate, generally exceeding over 100 beats per minute. The normal range of heart rates for an adult, according to the Mayo Clinic, is between 60 to 100 beats per minute. [source]

3. Although Miley Cyrus is naturally left-handed, like 10% of Americans, her father forced her to write with her right hand growing up, so she wouldn’t have to “learn the world backwards.” This was a common practice in religious schools in the 1950s, where writing with your left hand was the “Devil’s Paw.” Cyrus grew up in a devout household, where she had to wake up at 5 A.M. every morning to read the Bible, and still writes with her right hand. Whenever she’s giving an autograph to a fan, she makes sure to excuse her poor penmanship, saying that if they can’t read her writing, they should blame her father. [source]

4. However, being the daughter of a country music singer has its perks. Her godmother is none other than the legendary Dolly Parton, who popped in on a few episodes of Hannah Montana as “Aunt Dolly.” Dolly counts herself as among the actress-singer’s biggest fans. In an interview in 2008, Ms. Parton compared her to Elvis, who Cyrus counts as her biggest influence. “The kids love her because she’s Hannah Montana, but what people don’t realize about her is she is such a fantastic singer and songwriter,” Dolly said. “She writes songs like she’s 40 years old! She’s really deep.” That might hurt to read, but I’m just the messenger here.  [source]

5. As a kid, Miley was a rather prolific songwriter, penning over 150 of her own tunes. Cyrus’ earliest original track was a love song that she wrote for Jesse McCartney, who was six years older than Cyrus and probably not interested in a pre-teen. Cyrus played it for the teen heartthrob when he guested on her show — to woo him — and McCartney claimed that he found the gesture “cute.”  [source]

6. Cyrus has five siblings from her parents’ marriages, all of whom have been involved in showbiz. Her half-brother, Trace, also a musician. Trace was in the one-hit wonder band Metro Station, whose song “Shake It” went all the way to number 10 in 2008. The song was released in March of that year, just two months before Miley had her first shot at the Top Ten. “See You Again” likewise peaked at #10 on Billboard in May, besting her previous Hannah Montana entries “Nobody’s Perfect” and “Life’s What You Make It.” [source]

7. Before making it on her own, Miley was very involved in her father’s music career. Her earliest gig was cleaning up all the flowers, trinkets, gifts and other paraphernalia (read: panties) that were tossed onto the stage at her fathers’ concerts. Except for the panties, these were all re-gifted to local charities and hospitals. Growing up in her father’s spotlight, Cyrus claims that her favorite song of his is “Achy Breaky Heart,” his signature tune. [source]

8. Cyrus’ earliest TV credit was on her father’s TV series, Doc, currently syndicated on public television somewhere. A very young Miley appeared in three episodes of the Canadian program in 2001 before going onto a small role in the Tim Burton’s Big Fish two years later. Cyrus plays the not-too-important part of Ruthie, Age 8. [source]

9. During her childhood, Miley didn’t receive formal education, relying on a personal tutor instead of public or private schooling, like many young Hollywood actors. She also admits that she never had acting lessons. [source]

10. Miley Cyrus got her big break starring in Disney’s Hannah Montana, a role for which she beat out 1,000 other aspiring young actresses. Miley originally auditioned for the best friend role, Lily, but producers encouraged her to go out for the lead instead. However, when Ms. Cyrus turned in her tape, they shot her down, arguing that she was “too young and too small.” But after some deliberation and a change of heart, they altered the character to fit her, even changing her name to “Miley Stewart.” Cyrus was 12 years old when she nabbed the part. [source]

11. Ms. Cyrus is known for her, um, bold fashion choices, but some of it is by her own design. While working on the set of Hannah Montana, she learned how to knit from one of her co-stars, Emily Osment, and from there, Cyrus taught herself how to sew. Miley uses that skill to redesign or customize her wardrobes to fit her “unique” style, as in the case of her oft-pictured jean shorts.  [source]

12. Cyrus’ first breakout hit was the non-album track “Party in the U.S.A.,” produced by Dr. Luke, the same hitmaker behind Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha. Dr. Luke’s breakout single as a producer was Kelly Clarkson’s critically beloved “Since U Been Gone,” and “Party” was as likewise acclaimed, named track of the year by Entertainment Weekly. The song also placed high in the Pazz and Jop poll (at #37), the yearly round up of critics’ favorite tunes and albums. This was all despite the fact that Cyrus admitted she’d never heard a Jay-Z song when she recorded the summer anthem. [source]

13. Miley Cyrus has been on-again-off-again with Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth, who she met while filming the surprise hit Nicholas Sparks adaptation, The Last Song. Cyrus had an incurable thing for her hunky Australian co-star, so she paid a twelve-year-old 10 bucks to find out if the crush was mutual. It was, but the two have recently split. Considering that Cyrus nearly won a Razzie for that movie, maybe it wasn’t the best foot to start off on. [source]

14. Miley is also best friends with Kelly Osbourne, the famous offspring of Ozzy and Sharon who starred in her own television show as a teenager. As second-generation musicians (remember Kelly Osbourne’s album), the two have quite a bit in common. Osbourne and Cyrus met on the set of So Undercover (with Jeremy Piven, Revenge’s Josh Bowman and Glee’s Mike O’Malley) and have been close ever since. [source]

15. Although Cyrus’ music career has been enormously successful, her film career has yet to reach the same commercial heights. 2012’s So Undercover, directed by the guy who did What Happens in Vegas and written by the guy who did Wall Street 2, went direct-to-video in the U.S., although it did premiere in the United Arab Emirates. (This was possibly repayment for her small role in the Dubai-set Sex and the City 2.) Her other 2012 movie — LOL, which co-starred Razzie favorite Demi Moore — got dumped in limited release with zero marketing behind it. The movie received a sad 17% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is about what The Last Song got. [source]

16. But despite her inability to pull an audience into the theatre, Cyrus is proven herself as a television draw. Miley Cyrus guested on Two and a Half Men twice in 2012 (as a romantic interest for both Ashton Kutcher and the half man) and drove some of its biggest ratings of the season — with 13.6 million total viewers in her first outing. (For reference, that’s about three times the number of people that watch Parks and Rec.) Not to be tamed by ratings, Miley delivered the same numbers when she appeared again. One then wonders why they didn’t bring her on full-time instead of Amber Tamblyn, as the aging dinosaur’s ratings decline, but hey, I’m not CBS.  [source]

17. Although Cyrus has recently become a tabloid phenomenon for routinely courting controversy, Miley Cyrus has been waking waves for five years. Her first controversy was all the way back in 2008, when famed photographer Annie Lebowitz took seemingly nude photos of Cyrus wrapped in a bedsheet. However, the fifteen-year-old singer was fully clothed underneath. Despite the wide backlash, insiders reported that Cyrus’ entertainment market value skyrocketed after the incident. Annie Lebowitz invented Miley Cyrus. [source]

18. Before her recent flaps with the media, Cyrus previously also met backlash for pole dancing on an ice cream truck during the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, probably the wrong venue for that. Cyrus was then sixteen. Later the following year, during her promotion for the aptly titled “Can’t Be Tamed,” Miley pretended to kiss a female backup dancer during a performance on Britain’s Got Talent. Although Katy Perry made her name on the same thing, Cyrus had to release a statement in which she “promised” that the two did not actually kiss. However, Miley later admitted she did “nothing wrong.” [source]

19. The many-tattooed Cyrus has around 14 on her body, but the most famous addition to her skin was the equals sign she got inked on the ring finger of her right hand, voicing her support for LGBT rights. Miley Cyrus is an outspoken marriage equality supporter, and tweeted that “all love is equal.” when conservative fans said that they were disappointed in her choice of ink, she temporarily deleted her Twitter account in response, showing them a different finger. [source]

20. Cyrus’ much-discussed VMAs performance was actually the most-tweeted about event in the short history of the social media platform, beating out Beyonce’s performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. Miley Cyrus generated 360,000 tweets every minute, which is obscenely high. [source]

21. Her video for “Wrecking Ball” would subsequently go on to break VEVO’s viewing records for the most plays in a 24-hour period, right after it premiered on the video streaming service. This was shortly after “We Can’t Stop” broke a different record: It reached 100 million views faster than any other video in history. [source]

22. When video streaming of “Wrecking Ball” sent it to the top of the Billboard, scoring her first #1 single, Cyrus officially won a bet with Dr. Luke — who didn’t think it would go to number one. She bet the producer it would — and the loser had to buy the winner a $10,000 automated toilet. Cyrus is about to be shitting in style. [source]

23. Despite Cyrus’ many song-writing credits, “We Can’t Stop” was originally written for Rihanna, who turned it down. (“Party in the U.S.A.” was originally meant for Jessie J, who wrote the song but didn’t find the track “edgy” enough for her style.) The song never went to number-one on the overall Hot 100 charts, but it spent a record ten weeks at #1 on user-generated streaming services, like Spotify, meaning that for ten weeks it was the most demanded song in the country. [source]

24. In the wake of her Sinead O’Connor feud, with the Irish singer now threatening to sue Miley Cyrus, Cyrus has been offered $1 million for a different role. The adult film company GameLink supply wants her to direct her own porn movie, promising her full “creative control.” However, Miley Cyrus has already been there and done that. In 2012, she filmed a video with porn star Jessie Andrews, who is good friends with the singer. At this point in her career, there’s little Miley hasn’t done. [source]

25. Like her or not, Miley Cyrus currently racks up over 1 billion Google hits, making her more searched than Lady Gaga, Barack Obama, Katy Perry or God. She’s the biggest thing in the universe.

[Edit: This post originally said Liam Hemsworth is British. We changed it so it says he’s Australian. Thanks, Liam Hemsworth superfans. Also, you exist?]