Miley Cyrus Talks Trying to ‘Save’ Herself With Liam Hemsworth Marriage, Admits She ‘Kind of’ Wants to ‘F—k’ Dua Lipa and More Revelations By Sarah Hearon December 4, 2020

Still her muse? As Miley Cyrus promotes her new album, Plastic Hearts, she is getting candid about how her marriage to — and divorce from — Liam Hemsworth affects her life.

“We were together since [I was] 16. Our house burned down. We had been, like, engaged — I don’t know if we really ever thought we were actually going to get married — but when we lost our house in Malibu, which if you listen to my voice pre- and post-fire, they’re very different so that trauma really affected my voice,” the 27-year-old “Bad Karma” singer told Howard Stern about Hemsworth, 30, in a revealing new Interview. “Me being an intense person and not wanting to sit with it and not wanting to go, you know, ‘What could be purposeful about this?’ I just clung to what I had left of that house, which was me and him.”

One month after losing their home, Cyrus and Hemsworth wed in December 2018. The pair, who dated on and off for nearly a decade, filed for divorce in August 2019 after eight months of marriage. She subsequently began a whirlwind romance with Kaitlynn Carter. After her split from the Hills star, she started seeing longtime friend Cody Simpson before her divorce paperwork was even finalized in January. Cyrus and Simpson called it quits earlier this year.

During an interview with Rolling Stone for her January 2021 cover story, Cyrus expanded on why the fire pushed her to marry Hemsworth: “As you drown, you reach for that lifesaver and you want to save yourself. I think that’s really what, ultimately, getting married was for me. One last attempt to save myself.”

Cyrus added that she wasn’t living a “fairy-tale” that many people thought she was during her relationship with the Australian actor.

“At that time, my experimentation with drugs and booze and the circle of people around me was not fulfilling or sustainable or ever going to get me to my fullest potential and purpose,” the former Disney star told the magazine.

Cyrus added that the world’s perception of her — based on her appearance or relationship status — is often incorrect.

“’Hair’s long and blond, she’s sane right now. She cannot be f—ked up on drugs. It’s when her hair is painted or she’s growing out her armpit hair [that] she’s on drugs. … She’s got a man. She’s living in a house playing wife.’ Dude, I was way more off my path at that time than any of the times before where my sanity was being questioned,” she explained. “I don’t like ever saying anything in a very solid concrete way, but right now I have been focusing on sobriety as I wanted to wake up 100 percent, 100 percent of the time. If I’ve ever learned to balance myself and to not take it too far, I would. But so far any time I’ve messed with that, it hasn’t gotten me what I want.”

Scroll through for more from Cyrus about Hemsworth and how he influenced her new album: