--- title: Miley Cyrus Talks Coming Out as Pansexual, Sexuality description: Miley Cyrus revealed what it was like for her to come out as pansexual and what helped her realize her sexuality. canonical: https://time.com/4526468/miley-cyrus-comes-out-pansexual/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-11T15:40:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:30.334Z og:title: Miley Cyrus Opens Up About Coming Out as Pansexual og:description: 'The Voice' coach is arguing for a new letter in the "LGBTQ" alphabet og:url: https://time.com/4526468/miley-cyrus-comes-out-pansexual/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31fc1441973b66d1/6988a984a988ca2e896b9b74/miley-cyrus-coming-out-pansexual.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 Opens Up About Coming Out as Pansexual twitter:description: 'The Voice' coach is arguing for a new letter in the "LGBTQ" alphabet twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31fc1441973b66d1/6988a984a988ca2e896b9b74/miley-cyrus-coming-out-pansexual.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Miley Cyrus Opens Up About Coming Out to Her Parents  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 11, 2016 3:40 PM UTC  Miley Cyrus performs onstage at the 2016 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena on September 23, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/WireImage) Miley Cyrus performs onstage at the 2016 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena on September 23, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/WireImage)Ethan Miller—WireImage  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 11, 2016 3:40 PM UTC When [Miley Cyrus](http://time.com/4312186/miley-cyrus-jupiter-saturn-tattoo/) who recently starred in [_Crisis in Six Scenes_](http://time.com/4508679/woody-allen-crisis-in-six-scenes-amazon/), began exploring her own gender and sexuality, she wasn’t going to let anyone put her identity in a box. In an interview with [_Variety_](http://variety.com/2016/music/features/miley-cyrus-the-voice-donald-trump-vmas-woody-allen-coming-out-pansexual-1201884281/), Cyrus revealed details about her first relationship, which was with a female. Here are the highlights from the interview. **On not wanting to be defined by one label when it came to her sexuality:** “My whole life, I didn’t understand my own gender and my own sexuality. I always hated the word “bisexual,” because that’s even putting me in a box. I don’t ever think about someone being a boy or someone being a girl.” **On coming to terms with her own sexuality growing up and coming out to her family:** “My eyes started opening in the fifth or sixth grade. My first relationship in my life was with a chick. I grew up in a very religious Southern family. The universe has always given me the power to know I’ll be OK. Even at that time, when my parents didn’t understand, I just felt that one day they are going to understand.” **On identifying as pansexual:** “I never related to loving being a girl. And then, being a boy didn’t sound fun to me. I think the LGBTQ alphabet could continue forever. But there’s a “P” that should happen, for ‘pansexual’…once I understood my gender more, which was unassigned, then I understood my sexuality more. I was like, “Oh — that’s why I don’t feel straight and I don’t feel gay. It’s because I’m not.” Read the full interview at [_Variety_](http://variety.com/2016/music/features/miley-cyrus-the-voice-donald-trump-vmas-woody-allen-coming-out-pansexual-1201884281/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4526468/miley-cyrus-comes-out-pansexual/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4526468/miley-cyrus-comes-out-pansexual/"},"headline":"Miley Cyrus Opens Up About Coming Out to Her Parents","datePublished":"2016-10-11T15:40:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:30.334Z","description":"'The Voice' coach opens up about her sexuality","url":"https://time.com/4526468/miley-cyrus-comes-out-pansexual/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Miley Cyrus","LGBT","celebrity","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31fc1441973b66d1/6988a984a988ca2e896b9b74/miley-cyrus-coming-out-pansexual.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31fc1441973b66d1/6988a984a988ca2e896b9b74/miley-cyrus-coming-out-pansexual.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":"Ethan Miller—WireImage","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/4526468/miley-cyrus-comes-out-pansexual/","name":"Miley Cyrus Opens Up About Coming Out to Her Parents"}}]}] ```