In 2008, Cyrus earned $25 million, up from her earnings of $18 million in 2007, and was ranked number 35 on
Forbes magazine's "
Celebrity 100" list.
[96] Parade magazine reported she was the richest teenage celebrity and that her franchise would be worth approximately $1 billion by the end of the year.
[97] With Cyrus's increased success came increased media attention. In a May 2008 interview with
The Los Angeles Times, Francois Navarre, the proprietor of the X17 photo agency, said Cyrus's market value had picked up considerably after the
Vanity Fair photo controversy: "She's started to sell more. [...] It used to be $300, and now it's $2,000 for a picture."
[98] Estimates for a picture of the then-15 year old's first kiss ranged from $30,000 to $150,000.
[98] Navarre noted that Cyrus rarely behaved against her wholesome image or went out without a parent and stated, "She has people waiting for the moment she starts to be less traditional. [...] It's natural. Any teenager. But it's going to come very fast. [...] As soon as her mom lets her go out by herself. It's going to start to be interesting."
[98] Time magazine included her on the 2008
Time 100, the magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Her write-up was written by former child star
Donny Osmond, who warned, "As an idol to tweens the world over, singer-actress Miley Cyrus, 15, is riding a huge tidal wave at the pinnacle of her career; this is as it should be. I hope she enjoys it. [...] Within three to five years, Miley will have to face adulthood. [...] As she does, she'll want to change her image, and that change will be met with adversity."
[99]At the end of 2009,
Billboard magazine ranked Cyrus the fourth best-selling female artist
[103] and the fifth best-selling singer overall.
[104]Forbes ranked her #29 on the
Celebrity 100 and reported she had earned a total of $25 million.
[105]On October 8, 2009, Cyrus deleted her account on the social networking site
Twitter, citing a desire for more privacy. She also told
Parademagazine, "I deleted my Twitter account because I said on there that I believed in
gay marriage because everyone should have the right to love each other, and I got such hate mail about my being a bad person."
[106][107] Cyrus was very popular on the site: her account was watched by approximately 2 million Twitter users in addition to the general public at the time of deletion.
[108][109]On October 26, 2010, less than a month before Cyrus's eighteenth birthday, her father
Billy Ray Cyrus filed for divorce from her mother in Tennessee, citing irreconcilable differences.
[110] In a statement made to
People the next day announcing the split, the couple said, "As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for our family... We are trying to work through some personal matters. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers."
[111] However, on March 18, 2011, Cyrus's father announced on
The View that he had dropped the divorce.
[112]Controversies
In December 2007, a brief controversy emerged when photos Cyrus had posted on her private
MySpace account, depicting her and a female friend sharing a piece of licorice and "almost kissing", were spread across the internet, prompting rumors of
lesbianism. Cyrus comments, "For me, I was like, That's two girls—it's not a big deal. But they got spread around. Like someone copied and pasted and said, Omigod, look at this, and blah blah blah."
[113]In April 2008, several
provocative images of Cyrus in her underwear and swimsuit were leaked onto the web by a teenager who
hackedCyrus's
Gmail account.
[114][115][116][117] Cyrus described the images as "silly, inappropriate shots" and stated, "I am going to make mistakes and I am not perfect. I never intended for any of this to happen and I am truly sorry if I have disappointed anyone."
[118][119] On April 25, 2008, the televised entertainment program
Entertainment Tonight reported that Cyrus, then 15, had posed topless for a photoshoot taken by photographer
Annie Leibovitz for
Vanity Fair.[120] On April 29, 2008,
The New York Times clarified that though the pictures left an impression that she was bare-breasted, Cyrus was wrapped in a bedsheet and was actually not topless.
[121] Some parents expressed outrage at the nature of the photograph, which a Disney spokesperson described as "a situation [that] was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines." Gary Marsh, president of entertainment for Disney Channel Worldwide, was quoted by
Portfoliomagazine to have said, “For Miley Cyrus to be a 'good girl' is now a business decision for her. Parents have invested in her a godliness. If she violates that trust, she won't get it back."
[121] In response to the Internet circulation of the photo and ensuing media attention, Cyrus released a statement of apology on April 27, 2008: "I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed. I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about."
[121] Leibovitz also released a statement: "I'm sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful."
[121][122]In May 2008, Gossett, Cyrus's longtime acting agent, left Cunningham Escott Slevin Doherty for
United Talent Agency, partially with the hope of "giving Cyrus the major-agency backing that would support a widening career", according to
The Hollywood Reporter.
[28][123] About a year later in June 2009, Cyrus left both Gossett and UTA, which had recently negotiated her deals for
The Last Song and the fourth season of
Hannah Montana, and joined the
Creative Artists Agency, which had already represented her for music.
[124] Nikki Finke, who broke the news, reported, "Is this fair to UTA? Of course not. But I hear the decision was made by Miley's mother Trish [
sic] Cyrus".
[125]Cyrus's performance of "Party in the U.S.A." at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards
incited a media uproar, with some viewers criticizing Cyrus's provocative outfit and inclusion of a brief pole dance as inappropriate for her age, then sixteen, and for her young fans.
[126][127] Conversely,
Newsday reported that her sexualization "has been coming for some time."
[128] Ian Drew, senior editor of
US Weekly, said, "She already has this risque image, so it really wasn't much of a stretch. That's how
Britney [Spears] took off. She was the good girl gone bad, and it looks to be working for Miley as well."
[128] Cyrus was also criticized that year for dating Gaston, five years her senior,
[129] and for a photo displaying Cyrus and friends making "slant-eyed" expressions, which the
Organization of Chinese Americans claimed was offensive to the Asian community.
[130] Cyrus apologized for the photo on her website, defending her actions and saying, "In NO way was I making fun of any ethnicity! I was simply making a goofy face."
[131]Later in 2010,
TMZ released a video of Cyrus, then 16, giving
Adam Shankman, producer of
The Last Song, a
lap dance at the film's wrap party.
[132][133][134] Cyrus's father defended her actions, saying Miley was just "having fun" and that "it's what people her age do".
[135] Later that year in December, TMZ released a video of Cyrus, which took place five days after her 18th birthday at her Los Angeles home, in which she is seen smoking from a
bong. She claimed she was smoking the
psychoactive plant
salvia divinorum, although this has not been confirmed by anybody but Cyrus herself.
[136][137][138] Salvia is legal in the state of California, and Cyrus was of legal age at the time the video was shot.
[139] Cyrus's father expressed his sadness regarding the matter on Twitter, saying, "Sorry guys. I had no idea. Just saw this stuff for the first time myself. Im so sad. There is much beyond my control right now".
[140][141]Relationships
Cyrus told
Seventeen magazine that she and
Nick Jonas had dated for two years and "were in love", but were "fighting a lot" by the end.
[142]After the break-up, Cyrus says that she initially "rebell[ed] against everything Nick wanted me to be. And then I was like, I've got to be by myself for now, and just figure out who I really am."
[142] In February 2008, Cyrus and her friend
Mandy Jiroux opened a
YouTube account and began posting videos of what they called
The Miley and Mandy Show. The show, described as a "YouTube hit," is said to be filmed for fun by Cyrus and Jiroux and to be entirely their work, with Cyrus and Jiroux editing the footage together.
[143]In June 2009, Cyrus ended her nine month relationship with model
Justin Gaston shortly before flying to Georgia to film
The Last Song.
[144]While filming later that month, Cyrus began dating her co-star in
The Last Song, Australian actor
Liam Hemsworth.
[145] She later called him her "first serious boyfriend".
[146] In August 2010, it was confirmed that her relationship with Hemsworth had ended.
[147][148] Cyrus and Hemsworth were seen together a month later, and were reportedly back together.
[149] It was announced in early November that the couple had split again.
[150]
