Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth: Why Their Engagement Is Freakishly Normal

It may feel like the two of them have been talking marriage forever, but think again

Is it me or is Miley Cyrus's engagement taking forever? I wonder if she really wants to marry or not.
—Sun R., Virginia, via Facebook

Everything starts to get boring when we hear about it nonstop for months. Cyrus's engagement to Liam Hemsworth—the proposal, the ring, the interviews about what she wants in a wedding—we've seen so much hubbub that you'd think she was marrying Prince Harry or something.

As for the length of her engagement, and what it may say about her intentions, here's what I found out.

While it may feel like Cyrus has been promised to Hemsworth since the Stone Age, it's actually been closer to 5 months, at least, officially. Anne Hathaway was engaged for 10 before marrying That Guy What's His Name. Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake also had a 10-month span between engagement and wedding.

When you take those statistics into account, Cyrus's wedding wait time doesn't seem all that long. And she has displayed some enthusiasm about what she calls "my day."

"That's my day and whatever I want on that day will be about me and that moment," Cyrus told Ellen DeGeneres. "That look of love."

 

Then again, this is a 19-year-old who wears her bras on the outside and who hasn't exactly displayed an urgency to say "I do." She's indicated that she wants a "long engagement," that a wedding is essentially about "paper" and that she plans to to put off her nuptials so that she can make more music.

"I'm really excited to get obviously married, but I kind of already feel married," she said back in September. "I know we're forever and I don't really need a paper right now."

So what's the takeaway? Well, if Cyrus got married, say, next month, she'd be within the Hollywood norm.

"Celebrity couples have a much short average engagement: give or take, six months," celebrity wedding consultant Harmony Walton of the Bridal Bar tells me. "Kate and Prince William got married in six months. And if a royal wedding can be planned in 6 months, then any celebrity wedding can be planned in 6 months."