In a 2015 chat with Elle, Miley Cyrus discussed her feelings about forced gender norms and how they don’t feel applicable to her life. She also acknowledged her pansexuality — one of the first times, if not the first time, she mentioned it on the record. “I’m very open about it — I’m pansexual,” she told the outlet. But she noted that identity didn’t mean she was ready to settle into a relationship.
The following year, Cyrus explained to Variety that discovering her pansexual identity was a journey that involved visiting with the folks at the LGBTQ center in Los Angeles, California. She told the outlet that upon meeting a gender non-conforming individual for the first time, she understood that neutrality so deeply. “Once I understood my gender more, which was unassigned, then I understood my sexuality more,” she explained. “I was like, ‘Oh — that’s why I don’t feel straight and I don’t feel gay. It’s because I’m not.'”
A few years later, in 2019, Cyrus told Vanity Fair that she believes “people fall in love with people” rather than appearances or gender identity. More than that, she sees herself as part of a movement to do away with the emphasized importance of sexual identity and gender in relationships.
