Miley Cyrus Recalls Being the “Least Paid Person” on 'Hannah Montana'

Miley Cyrus says she was the "least paid" on 'Hannah Montana.'

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Complex Original

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Five years after Miley Cyrus took her last bow as Disney's Hannah Montana, the actress/pop star/reality show judge reveals in a new interview with Elle that she was the “least paid” in the cast at one point. Since leaving the show, she’s gone on to be privately dissed by a vaping Leonardo DiCaprio and gotten publicly dismissed by Nicki Minaj.

Cyrus starred as the titular Hannah Montana—regular teen by day and pop sensation by night—over four seasons from 2006 to 2011. The show spawned a movie, albums, and merchandise galore. But despite this, she told Elle that she was the least paid “because I didn’t know any better.”

“I just wanted to be on TV,” she said. “I mean, at one point—they'll probably kill me for saying it—I was probably the least paid person on my [Hannah Montana] cast because I didn't know any better. I was just like, I can be on Disney! Yeah, I want to do it!” Cyrus also explained how her family didn’t know any better than to let the show use (and thereby own) her real first name for her character.

Eventually, her family figured things out, Cyrus continued: “My mom started understanding how many people take advantage of a child, so she hired smart people to protect me in that way. I’m happy that when I was younger, people protected me and put me in a position where I can now control my music.”

Cyrus can currently be seen as a judge on The Voice. She’ll also be co-starring in Crisis in Six Scenes, a Woody Allen-directed series premiering on Amazon Sept. 30.

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