--- title: Miley Cyrus Says She Was Paid Least on Hannah Montana By Disney description: Cyrus may have starred in 'Hannah Montana,' but the famously unfiltered star says she wasn't raking in the big bucks for her namesake role. canonical: https://time.com/4511928/miley-cyrus-hannah-montana-salary/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-28T19:27:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:08.535Z og:title: Miley Cyrus Thinks She Was Probably Underpaid at Disney og:description: She may have starred in 'Hannah Montana,' but Cyrus wasn't raking in top dollar. og:url: https://time.com/4511928/miley-cyrus-hannah-montana-salary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30004e866020c69e/6988a7f80a4a2250a19cb71d/miley-cyrus-iheart.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2016 iHeartRadio Music Festival - Night 1 - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Miley Cyrus Thinks She Was Probably Underpaid at Disney twitter:description: She may have starred in 'Hannah Montana,' but Cyrus wasn't raking in top dollar. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30004e866020c69e/6988a7f80a4a2250a19cb71d/miley-cyrus-iheart.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Miley Cyrus Thinks She Was 'Probably the Least Paid Person' on _Hannah Montana_  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 28, 2016 7:27 PM UTC  Miley Cyrus performs onstage at the 2016 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena on September 23, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Miley Cyrus performs onstage at the 2016 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena on September 23, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Kevin Winter—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 28, 2016 7:27 PM UTC Ever since leaving Disney, [Miley Cyrus](http://time.com/3918308/miley-cyrus-transgender-rights-instapride/?iid=sr-link1) has made it her mission to be [famously unfiltered](http://time.com/4016820/miley-cyrus-her-dead-petz-review/?iid=sr-link5). In a new interview with _Elle_, the [newest _Voice_ judge](http://time.com/4339966/miley-cyrus-jimmy-fallon-funny-faces/?iid=sr-link1) gamely opened up about her past as Hannah Montana, the alter ego that launched her to tweenage stardom in the 2000s. “I did not grow up spoiled in any way. I just wanted to be on TV,” [she told _Elle_.](http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a39154/miley-cyrus-cover-story/) “I mean, at one point—they’ll probably kill me for saying it—I was probably the least paid person on my \[_Hannah Montana_\] cast because I didn’t know any better. I was just like, I can be on Disney! Yeah, I want to do it! My name was Miley on my show, but I didn’t own my name—we didn’t think about that.” Cyrus added that her parents ultimately helped surround her with people who enabled her to gain more control of her career, for which she doesn’t have a makeup artist. ([In the Kardashian era](http://time.com/4087040/kylie-jenner-interview/?iid=sr-link10), that’s a headline-worthy admission.) “Mostly, I tell people, Don’t wear makeup,” she said, “I mean, I cover my zits, but besides that, I don’t really wear it. And Alicia \[Keys\] doesn’t really wear it. But she’s got a makeup artist and I don’t.” Stay being Miley. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4511928/miley-cyrus-hannah-montana-salary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4511928/miley-cyrus-hannah-montana-salary/"},"headline":"Miley Cyrus Thinks She Was 'Probably the Least Paid Person' on Hannah Montana","datePublished":"2016-09-28T19:27:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:08.535Z","description":"\"I was just like, I can be on Disney!\"","url":"https://time.com/4511928/miley-cyrus-hannah-montana-salary/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","celebrities","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30004e866020c69e/6988a7f80a4a2250a19cb71d/miley-cyrus-iheart.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30004e866020c69e/6988a7f80a4a2250a19cb71d/miley-cyrus-iheart.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 iHeartRadio Music Festival - Night 1 - Show","caption":"2016 iHeartRadio Music Festival - Night 1 - Show","creditText":"Kevin Winter—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4511928/miley-cyrus-hannah-montana-salary/","name":"Miley Cyrus Thinks She Was 'Probably the Least Paid Person' on Hannah Montana"}}]}] ```