Miley Cyrus became the youngest recipient of the Disney Legend Award at D3 2024 in Anaheim, California last night. The 31-year-old former Hannah Montana star took the stage and got emotional giving a speech where she reflected on how she got the Disney Channel part that changed her life and catapulted her into fame.
She began her speech by offering “a little Disney Legend secret. I’m the one that tells you what you’re not supposed to know. And what I want to say, is that legends get scared, too. I’m scared right now, but the difference is we do it anyway, and all of you can do that every single day. It’s legendary to be afraid and do it anyway. There is no such thing as failure when you try.”
She later teared up while expressing her pride in playing Hannah. “I stand here still proud to have been Hannah Montana because she made Miley in so many ways,” she said. “This award is dedicated to Hannah and all of her amazing, loyal fans, and to everyone who has made my dream a reality. To quote the legend herself, ‘This is the life.’”
So here I am. I’ll show you; I made two speeches: one long if I’m the badass that I’m supposed to be, and one short if I get scared. So I want to say thank you. It’s such an honor to receive this award. My other legends have said it best: It is all because of you, everyone in this room, outside of this room. It’s all about the fans.
And in 2005, Disney was on a mission to rebuild and reimagine the company. That’s why they hired Bob Iger and me. I remember this clearly because it was during the auditioning process of Hannah Montana. There was a buzz in that Burbank Disney office where it’s rumored they create all of us Disney kids. I definitely wasn’t created in a lab, and if I was, there must have been a bug in the system which caused me to malfunction somewhere between the years of 2013 and ’16. Sorry, Mickey!
I was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, where I sent my audition tape from. After those tapes were sent in, my mom got a message that what I said was great, but I was just too small, and I was too young for the part. A year or more goes by, and I forget all about Hannah Montana. But then we get a call, and they tell us that they fully casted the show, they’ve already shot a pilot, but the show just isn’t working. So they want me to come out to L.A. and audition in person. My mom tells me the news but reiterates that if I get it, I’m going to have to leave school and all of my friends.
So we go to the mall to shop for what I’d wear to the audition and in true fashion of fate, there hangs a T-shirt that says, ‘I should have my own TV show.’ So we took it home, bedazzled it, and flew out to L.A. After a few of those auditioning trips, I got the part.
I came out to California to shoot the pilot, I fell in love with L.A.: the beach, the palm trees, they were awesome. But it was the sound stage that I lived for. I mean it was the most beautiful place that I’d ever seen. There were lights, dressing rooms, the wardrobe racks, there were costume fittings, wig fittings, acting, dance, vocal lessons. It was like being on RuPaul’s Drag Race Junior. We shot the pilot, we went back to Nashville to wait, but I had gotten a taste of what my life could be like, and from that moment on, I did not want anything else.
So when I was told the show had gotten picked up, I just couldn’t wait to get back to stage nine. But because Hannah Montana is a pop star, we needed footage of her playing sold out concerts, but no one knew who she, a.k.a. Miley, was.
So they gave away tickets at the Glendale mall where I would have my first free concert. And the first song I opened with was titled, “This Is the Life.” Which of course no one knew because in reality, I was a little girl in a blonde wig at the mall with a big dream, but in my heart, I was Hannah Montana. And I was so proud to be.
A little bit of everything has changed since that day. But at the same time, nothing has changed at all. I stand here still proud to have been Hannah Montana because she made Miley in so many ways. This award is dedicated to Hannah and all of her amazing, loyal fans, and to everyone who has made my dream a reality. To quote the legend herself, “This is the life.”