\u201cHannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\nCyrus told The Associated Press that the milestone has given her a chance to see the character and series from \u201ca new perspective.\u201d Cyrus, who began the Disney Channel show at age 13, played Miley Stewart, a tween and middle-schooler hiding her secret life as a famous pop singer.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting to be on the outside now, getting to be grown and be a part of it in a way that I couldn\u2019t when I was in the middle of it before, and all the chaos and the schedule and the performing of it all,\u201d Cyrus said, \u201cnow it just gets to be a celebration. So it is a new perspective. I love that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The anniversary special, which started streaming Tuesday on Disney+ and Hulu, celebrates 20 years since the show\u2019s premiere. Filmed in front of a live audience, it features music, archival footage and an interview with Cyrus \u2014 now 33 and a genuine pop star \u2014 conducted by podcast host Alex Cooper.<\/p>\n
Addressing the audience at the premiere, Cyrus paid tribute both to fellow cast members and fans. \u201cWithout you all, this show would have never been what it is, and I love saying what it is, not what it was,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight isn\u2019t about looking back into the past, but it\u2019s about what it means to us still tonight,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Jason Earles, who played Miley\u2019s brother Jackson, told the AP that watching the show now highlights how much time has passed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if you go back and you watch the episodes, there\u2019s enough dated references like old flip phones and stuff that you go, \u2018Oh no, no, this show was a little while ago,’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cody Linley, who played Miley\u2019s on-and-off boyfriend Jake Ryan, reflected on the impact of portraying a teen heartthrob.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe that there were girls that had pictures of me with my shirt off in their locker and they would have me sign it,\u201d Linley said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s hard not to let it go to your head, because you have to remember that it\u2019s an image that they are seeing. It\u2019s not you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also attending the premiere was country singer Lainey Wilson, who recalled working as a \u201cHannah Montana\u201d impersonator early in her career.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom 8th grade to 12th grade, five years of my life, I would open up the show as Lainey Wilson, I would run behind a tree and put on my \u2018Hannah Montana\u2019 get-up,\u201d the singer said. \u201cI did birthday parties, fairs, festivals \u2026 I was hitting the roads.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.click2houston.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 Sporting that \u201cHannah Montana\u201d blonde hair and bangs, Miley Cyrus went back to her roots \u2014 celebrating 20 years of the TV show that launched the career of a real-life pop star. Cyrus reunited with cast members of \u201cHannah Montana\u201d in Los Angeles Monday evening for the premiere of the \u201cHannah Montana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2343409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[304783,410215,21741,454397,454396,307957,22623],"class_list":["post-2343408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-alex-cooper","tag-cody-linley","tag-entertainment","tag-jake-ryan","tag-jason-earles","tag-lainey-wilson","tag-miley-cyrus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Now-a-true-pop-star-Miley-Cyrus-returns-to-her.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2343408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2343410,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343408\/revisions\/2343410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2343409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2343408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2343408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2343408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}