Many of us were first introduced to Miley on the 2000s Disney Channel show Hannah Montana, in which she starred as Miley Stewart, an everyday girl living a double life as a pop star.
She made her debut as Hannah/Miley in 2006 at the age of 13, and by the time the show’s fourth and final season aired in 2011, real-life Miley was one of the best-known teenagers on the planet.
But, despite all that came with it, Miley looks back on her time as a Disney kid pretty fondly. And in turn, the company has decided to honor her at the Disney Legends Awards Ceremony in August.
The 2024 Disney Legend honorees lineup was announced in March, and now, in a new interview with W magazine, Miley reflected on all the hard work that led her to become the youngest person ever to be given such an honor by the Walt Disney Company.
“People have 50- or 60-year-long careers, but mine has been close to 20 years, and I’m 31. I have been in the public for more of my life than I haven’t,” she said, describing her Disney years as “a great, safe experience overall.”
Recalling the abnormality of her teenage years, Miley emphasized that Disney was “doing very well off of the amount of work that [she] was putting in as a child.”
In light of this, Miley was pretty frank about the fact that she feels more than deserving of the Disney Legend honor. “It’s just the truth,” she expressed. “And so I think they have to give me this award.”
Last August, Miley shocked fans by airing an intense 13-hour work schedule from around the time she was making Hannah Montana in her early teens. The workday started at 5:30 a.m. with hair and makeup and didn’t end until after 6 p.m. once she’d taken part in several interviews and shoots.
