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Miley Cyrus is often seen as a huge partier and stoner, and the singer has made it no secret that she smokes weed in the past. However, in the last year, Cyrus, 27, has taken some big steps to change her life and take a step away from drugs
In fact, in a late June interview with Variety, Cyrus opened up about her recent journey with sobriety–and her recent decision to become “sober sober”six months ago.
Keep reading for all the details.
According to the interview, the decision to be sober came up for Cyrus when she needed vocal surgery in November.
She explained, "It's been really important for me over the last year living a sober lifestyle, because I really wanted to polish up my craft."
She continued, "I had really big vocal surgery in November. I had freaking four weeks where I wasn't allowed to talk. I was so ripped writing on the whiteboard, yelling at everybody. I had this one big bicep from just yelling at mom and still trying to do meetings. But it prepared me for the stillness and the quietness."
For the past six months, the singer-actress has been sober. She explained that the decision started because of her surgery, but became something deeper when she looked into her family history of mental health and addiction.
Cyrus explained, "I've been sober sober for the past six months. At the beginning, it was just about this vocal surgery... But I had been thinking a lot about my mother. My mom was adopted, and I inherited some of the feelings she had, the abandonment feelings and wanting to prove that you're wanted and valuable. My dad's parents divorced when he was 3, so my dad raised himself. I did a lot of family history, which has a lot of addiction and mental health challenges."
Cyrus credits these insights to being more self-reflective: "So just going through that and asking, 'Why am I the way that I am?' By understanding the past, we understand the present and the future much more clearly. I think therapy is great."
Sober living has also helped Cyrus appreciate her mornings more. She told Variety, "The thing that I love about it is waking up 100%, 100% of the time. I don't want to wake up feeling groggy. I want to wake up feeling ready."
However, that does not mean Cyrus thinks choosing a sober lifestyle is easy. In fact, she comments on the stigma of sobriety in the interview, explaining, "It's really hard because especially being young, there's that stigma of 'you're no fun.'"
An ironic assumption, considering Cyrus' partier reputation. She continued, "It's like, 'Honey, you can call me a lot of things, but I know that I'm fun.'"
