In a recent interview, former Disney star Miley Cyrus compared herself and her journey to fame to a fellow Mickey Mouse alum, none other than Britney Spears, saying that Spears is "that one person in [her] life who gets" what it's like to be surrounded by the media.
Spears went through a very public and very intense breakdown back in 2007, being swarmed daily by hundreds of paparazzi, her every move caught on camera and sold for thousands of dollars in the form of pictures and videos. Cyrus got her start as the lovable Hanna Montana on her own Disney show, becoming a brand for tween girls and another cog in the Disney machine, but now she's stepping away from all of that and re-creating her image.
After some success with her more grown-up sophomore album "Can't Be Tamed," the star left Hollywood Records and was soon signed to RCA, the label under which she released her smash hit, "We Can't Stop" and will be soon be dropping her first non-Disney album.
Living life as a child star with a reputation to maintain hasn't been easy for Cyrus, and she's found Britney Spears to be someone to relate to on that front.
"Everyone goes through a time in their life where they don't want their picture taken every day. [Britney] just never had that time where she could say, 'I'm going through something right now and need to shutdown,' " she told Huffington Post U.K. "I also don't have that, so it's good to have that one person in my life who gets it."
However, some fans are criticizing Cyrus for comparing herself and her level of fame to Spears, arguing that Britney never really wanted to be in the spotlight, while Cyrus is currently on a frenzied quest to gain 3 million Twitter followers before she can release the name of her next album, and has been encouraging fans on Twitter to help her break Vevo records.
So close to 13 mill.
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) July 30, 2013
I wanna see pics of everyone in my Marc Jacobs tee! Ill RT ❤ — Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) July 27, 2013
Directors cut is done. Ready to drop it once we got to 100 mill!
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) July 26, 2013
Nonetheless, Cyrus feels a kinship to Spears, according to MTV, as the star is all about promoting the idea of loving who you are and embracing yourself.
"I just think it's never blaming you or making you feel like, 'You've got all this going for you,'" said Cyrus. "It's like, she knows. Sometimes life just steps in the middle of your career the way life always does for anyone — it's just ours is a little more 24/7."
As for her new persona as a party girl, Cyrus said, "I think people forget what it feels like to be 20. People just evolve and that's all that's happened to me. But people think a mad scientist somehow cooked up this potion and turned me into a different human, which it wasn't. All I did was get a haircut and buy some clothes and everyone thinks that I am made into a robot that changes with what's popular every 10 years."
Miley Cyrus's new single "23" will be available Aug. 26.
