Miley Cyrus Explains Why She Has No Real Celebrity Friends

Few people are as Hollywood as Miley Cyrus—who grew up in the spotlight with famous father Billy Ray Cyrus and godmother Dolly Parton, made her own name starring in the Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana, married Hunger Games actor Liam Hemsworth, and has had her own enormously successful career in music. But still—or maybe because of this—the singer admitted in a new interview that she has no real friends in the entertainment industry.

In a sit-down interview on David Letterman’s Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, the 31-year-old singer said, “I am not very active or a very active part of my community of other artists and entertainers and celebrities.”

There’s no bad blood, she said, but explained: “It just doesn’t feel like my people when I’m in that room.”

However, there are exceptions, like her recent “II Most Wanted” collaborator Beyoncé, whom she feels she can connect with. Cyrus said of Bey: “We’ve known each other for a long time.”

She recalled singing alongside Beyoncé—as well as Mary J. Blige, Carrie Underwood, Fergie, Natasha Bedingfield, Ashanti, and other big names—at the 2008 Stand Up to Cancer telethon, when Cyrus was just a teen.

“I’m, like, super small, have acne, have braces on the back of my teeth, and I’m standing next to Mariah Carey, who is dripping in diamonds. And Beyoncé was so kind to me,” Cyrus told Letterman.

Now, she added, their relationship is “a bit more in-depth.”

Cyrus joked to Letterman: “We haven’t ever had this conversation, so now maybe you and I may be more friends than I’m friends with Beyoncé, but Beyoncé and I have just the kindness and the consistency of everything.”

Of course, Cyrus added, she is very close to her famous family members, as well as to Parton, who has been a loving mentor throughout the younger woman’s career.

“[Dolly] isn’t afraid to have the tough conversations,” Cyrus said, describing a recent one. “A tough conversation I had with her: I told her, ‘I’m wondering if I’m going to do the Grammys or not.’ And she said, ‘Well, of course you’re going to do the Grammys, and you’re not just going to show up, but you’re going to show off. And you’re going to be everything that you are sitting right here in front of me.’ ”

Cyrus went on to deliver an electric performance of her hit “Flowers” at the awards show in February, and took home the awards for Best Pop Solo Performance and Record of the Year.

Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper’s Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets.