Your sexual history — or lack thereof — should never be anything to feel ashamed of. And when public figures open up about their experiences, it helps normalise the idea that everyone has a unique, and valid journey when it comes to exploring their sexuality.
Actress and singer Miley Cyrus shared her personal story, in which she revealed that she lied to ex-husband Liam Hemsworth for reasons that many young women might relate to.
Cyrus, who just dropped her newest single "Midnight Sky" about the freedom of being single, recently appeared on a new episode of Barstool Sports' Call Her Daddy podcast, in which she divulged that she lost her virginity to Hemsworth when she was a teenager. But she wasn't completely forthright with him about her sexual history.
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“I didn’t go all the way with a dude until I was 16 ... but I ended up marrying the guy,” she said, clearly referring to Hemsworth, whom she met on the set of their movie, The Last Song, in 2010, and married in December 2018. The two, however, finalised their divorce in January of this year. "I lied and said he wasn't the first so I didn't seem like a loser."
The idea of "losing your virginity" is quite loaded and society (oftentimes unfairly) puts a lot of pressure and value on it, especially for women. Many people therefore find themselves in Cyrus' same position — feeling like they will be judged for having a sexual history or not having any. Cyrus divulged that in her case, things were not so straightforward. Hemsworth was the first person she had sex with, but before him, she had more sexual experiences with and found herself more attracted to women.
"I was attracted to girls way before I was ever attracted to guys," she told podcast host Alexandra Cooper. "...When I was like 11 or 12, my friends were starting to, like, tell me what they were doing with guys and I didn't really understand it, so I got most of my girlfriends to hook up with me."
"The first time I ever hooked up with anyone was with a girl — two of them," she continued.
Cyrus has been open about her fluid sexuality in the past — she came out as pansexual and gender-queer in 2015 — and been an active advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. “What I preach is: People fall in love with people, not gender, not looks, not whatever," she told Vanity Fair in 2019. She emphasised the ethos that in the end, sex, sexuality histories and all its baggage aren't what truly matters in relationships. "What I’m in love with exists on almost a spiritual level. It has nothing to do with sexuality. Relationships and partnerships in a new generation — I don’t think they have so much to do with sexuality or gender. Sex is actually a small part, and gender is a very small, almost irrelevant part of relationships.”