Miley Cyrus Suggests She Was the ‘First Person to Maybe Ever Be Canceled’

In an upcoming interview for CBS Sunday Morning, Miley Cyrus looked back on the backlash she faced throughout her career and suggested she was “the first person to maybe ever be canceled.”

When transitioning from a child star in Hannah Montana to the more provocative content of her 2013 album Bangerz, Cyrus faced significant criticism for her sexually-charged image. Now 32, she reflected on her time under scrutiny and admitted she found it “fun” at the time but she has a different perspective now that she’s older.

“I was the first person to maybe ever be canceled, I guess,” she said, as sene in the clip below. “I didn’t know until I was older, actually, how brutal it really was. ‘Cause, it was very, I guess… Challenging for other people. But for me, it was a good time. It looked fun and it was fun. So it wasn’t until I was older that I realized how harsh… I would never now, being where I am, ever look at someone in their 20s from the view of who I am now, you know? But at the time, it was awesome.”

While Cyrus’ contention that she was the “first person to maybe ever be canceled” could apply to the current “cancel culture” of the mid-’10s onwards, there are plenty of examples of female musicians who faced intense public scrutiny long before Cyrus. Madonna’s second studio album, Like a Virgin, was criticized for its sexually-charged content, while Sinéad O’Connor faced intense backlash after she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II during her performance on Saturday Night Live in October 1992.

COMPLEX SHOP: Shop the brands you love, anytime and anywhere. Uncover what’s next. Buy. Collect. Obsess.

Earlier this year, Cyrus made similar comments about her past on an episode of the podcast Reclaiming With Monica Lewinsky. Cyrus said that her Bangerz era was a lot for her five siblings to handle. She said she was “hit so hard” and “embarrassed” about the reactions that she received from her siblings, including her younger siblings, who were so “humiliated” that they “didn’t want to go to school.”

“I remember my brother at one point, he was saying, ‘I don’t judge you, but you could understand how hard it is for me to go to school, and you be my sister.’ I was a hard sibling to have as a little girl, so I was like ‘All right we’re even,'” she explained.

ComplexCon returns to Las Vegas on October 25–26, 2025, with over 300 brands and live performances by Young Thug, YEAT & Friends, Peso Pluma, Central Cee, Ken Carson, and more. Get your tickets now.