She may have put the Hannah in Hannah Montana, but Miley Cyrus insists she didn’t reap the rewards as the star of her own TV show.
In fact, the 23-year-old admits she was taken advantage of as a child star growing up in the Disney family.
Despite her dad Billy Ray Cyrus being in the music industry, the singer and actress insists his business savvy didn’t translate to the world of TV, leaving her wide open to being manipulated.
‘I did not grow up spoiled in any way. I just wanted to be on TV,’ she tells Elle magazine. ‘I mean, at one point – they’ll probably kill me for saying it – I was probably the least-paid actress on my cast because I didn’t know any better. I was just like, “I can be on Disney! Yeah, I want to do it!”’
Miley even explains that she let the show use her name without any compensation or trademark.
‘My name was Miley on my show, but I didn’t own my name – we didn’t think about that,’ she says. ‘Like, “Yeah, you can use my name on your show, sure!”’
Fortunately, Miley’s mum, Tish Cyrus, cottoned on to the fact that she was being taken advantage of and stepped in.
‘My mom started understanding how many people take advantage of a child, so she hired smart people to protect me in that way,’ Miley adds. ‘I’m happy that when I was younger, people protected me and put me in a position where I can now control my music.’
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