How old was Miley Cyrus when she starred in "Hannah Montana"? Singer reveals her father Billy Ray Cyrus once smoked pot on the show set
During her latest appearance on the June 19, 2025 episode of the Sorry We’re Cyrus podcast, Miley Cyrus spilt some beans about her time shooting Disney's Hannah Montana alongside her father, Billy Ray Cyrus. Billy played her dad on the show.
For the unversed, Miley played the role of a teenage girl who lives a double life as a regular person and as a pop singer called Hannah Montana. The series premiere of the Disney show was aired on March 24, 2006, and Miley was just 13 years old when she first started filming for the same.
Shortly after it was aired, Hannah Montana became the highest-rated premiere episode in Disney Channel's history in 2006.
Answering a question by her mother, Tish Cyrus-Purcell, about a core memory from Hannah Montana that makes her laugh, Miley Cyrus answered without taking a beat:
“Dad smoking pot and everyone blaming me for it.”
Tish recalled that she received a call about the incident at the time, however, she did not believe that Billy Ray Cyrus would do something of the sort.
“They were calling me, saying B-Ray was smoking pot, and I was saying, ‘Absolutely not, he would never do that.' It’s Mitchel Musso!” Tish Cyrus said.
Actor Mitchel Musso played Oliver on the Disney Channel series. Miley was quick to agree that "it was both" Mitchel and her father Billy who smoked pot on the set of Hannah Montana.
However, in a statement to E! News dated June 19, 2025, Mitchel Musso denied the allegations, saying he did not remember it the way Miley and Tish Cyrus described. Musso mentioned that he had multiple stories from the sets of Hannah Montana that "might be worth having a conversation about", and gave his love to Miley Cyrus and her family.
Miley Cyrus reflects on having to separate herself from the identity of Hannah Montana
In a recent episode of The Ringer's Every Single Album podcast dated June 6, 2025, Miley Cyrus reflected on growing up and getting past the role of Hannah Montana. The Flowers singer said that she was like Hannah, and that it was not a character merely written on paper.
When asked if she had to separate herself from the character when she left Disney, Miley said:
“I guess I was. It was before I had a license, and I started doing things that Hannah wouldn’t be doing because it’s like a Barbie, you know, she’s just like, she’s kind of s*xless in that way. And I started, you know, ‘living,’ we shall call it."
The singer recalled thinking that it would be awkward to wear Hannah Montana's signature look, comprising tutus and Doc Martens. Miley added that one of the directors she worked with after wrapping up Hannah Montana told her, "now the lion’s been let out of the cage and it’s like seen where it’s come from and you’re going to have a really hard time walking yourself back into the zoo.”
This resulted in Miley trying to put her name on some of the songs she recorded and performed as a part of the Disney series. However, she did not know how to ask for songwriting credit, as she believed being credited as Hannah Montana was enough credit for her.
“But now I’m like, I should have really had more credit in there because I was shaping that whole identity of the thing. And a lot of the songs were written off experiences that I was having,” Miley added.
In other news, Miley Cyrus recently released her ninth studio album, called Something Beautiful, on May 30, 2025. The project features 13 songs and collaborations with Brittany Howard and Naomi Campbell.
