Weed, Controversy at the MTV VMAs and Liam Hemsworth: Everything We Learned From Miley Cyrus' Howard Stern Interview

Songstress was an open book for her first interview with the radio star

By Samantha Schnurr Oct 04, 2017 4:59 PMTags

Miley Cyrus covered it all. 

From her class clown childhood to her rebellious post-Disney years, her break from weed to prioritizing her two pigs, the songstress was an open book during her first interview with Howard Stern. During the lengthy sit-down, the 24-year-old songstress took listeners back to the start of it all, chronicling her beginnings as a child yearning to entertain all the way to becoming a full-fledged international musician. 

There was no shortage of curse words or candidness—it was raw and real Miley all the way. In between chatting about the origins of her real name and her aggravation about the charts—"I don't love being ranked"—the star shared some new insight into the life and times of Miley Cyrus. Here's what we learned:

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1. She got kicked out of school for showing the other kids how to french kiss. 

As the story goes, after young Miley learned what a french kiss is, she shared with her classmates, word got back to the school and Miley's parents got called in. 

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2. She lives in the house she used to record her first album. 

The songstress recorded her first studio album, Meet Miley Cyrus, in a house in Malibu. Fast forward a few years later, she broke up with Liam Hemsworth and he needed a place to go. Without knowing, he ended up buying the same house in Malibu because the owner moved all of the plaques and mementos of the recording so he wouldn't see. 

"He went to move in and was like,' F--k. I cant get away. This b--ch is all over my house," she told Stern. In a full circle moment, Cyrus now lives back in that house with Hemsworth and recorded her single, "Malibu" about that house. 

3. Her real name is Destiny Hope

Dad Billy Ray Cyrus picked the name for her because it was her "destiny to bring hope to the world." However, she was always smiling, so Billy Ray used to say, "She's smiling, she's 'miling, she's Miley." The nickname stuck. 

4. Her dad didn't want her to audition for Hannah Montana

Having experienced his own heartbreak in Hollywood, Billy Ray didn't want his daughter to experience the same kind of rejection. Unfortunately, she did when the show cast another girl to shoot the pilot. However, they soon returned to Miley and the rest, as they say, is history. 

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Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images for HRTS

5. She stopped smoking weed. 

Cyrus told Stern she doesn't smoke cigarettes and hasn't smoked weed in 8 months. As for why, she said, "This record means so much to me and I want to be able to tell people what I feel about the record in a non-stoned way."

6. She doesn't get too bothered by Liam Hemsworth's hot co-stars.

While she does get butterflies in her stomach if she knows someone attractive is starring with her fiancé in a movie, she trusts him and the two have their own individual lives. However, as Miley noted, "I keep my little spies."

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7. Her MTV Video Music Awards controversy is the "best thing" that's ever happened to her. 

One of the most pivotal moments in Cyrus' career came when she famously danced on Robin Thicke during their joint performance during the 2013 award show. "I didn't like it because I thought I had done something that was gonna make everyone talk about me. That's not why I liked it," she explained. 

"The reason why that's the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life is that's when I realized my power," she noted. The following year, she brought a homeless teen as her date to the show because she understood the attention she would get and wanted to channel it into something productive. "I brought a young homeless teen because I realized my f--king power there."

8. For better or worse, she understands her "Wrecking Ball" music video will never go away. 

"Swinging around naked in the middle of a bunch of rubble licking a sledge hammer—that's forever," she told Stern. "That's not going anywhere." However, don't think she was picturing Liam during the shoot. While she recorded the song in the aftermath of their breakup, by the time the shoot for the video came along, her heart had already healed and she was focused on something else—her dog's death. 

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9. She's not touring because of her two pigs. 

"Literally the only reason I'm not touring is because of those f--king pigs," she said. "That's how much I love those pigs."

10. She wrote "Malibu" in the car. 

As she told Stern, she was on her way to The Voice when she came up with the tune. 

11. She would wear a mask as long as she could make music. 

"My priorities are different, I think, are different than these artists that go and push play. Or these artists that just want to get their picture taken somewhere. If someone just wants to listen to my music and listen to my lyrics, that's enough for me," she told Stern when he asked if it bothered her some artist don't sing live. "I really don't care. Fame comes with being able to have your albums be heard. It really helps that I have this amazing platform and I have so many fans. But, I would do it with the mask on and that no one would know it was me. I never care about that, or that attention or that fame. I cannot help but write songs."
 
As for who keeps her grounded, thank Tish Cyrus. "My mom is back there right now and she's the one person that, even though I would be on a tour in front of 30,000 people, the woman would still take my cell phone away."