Watch: Billy Ray Cyrus Reacts to Daughter Miley Cyrus Dropping Her Last Name
She can buy herself flowers. And now it’s even easier for Miley Cyrus to write her name in the sand.
Because from here on out, the three-time Grammy winner is just being Miley. After dropping the Cyrus from her social media handles, the “Malibu” singer posted a red and black-filtered photo of herself, simply captioned, “MILEY.”
And while some theorized this was a response to the pop star’s once-strained relationship with her country singer dad, Billy Ray Cyrus‘ heart is neither achy, nor breaky.
In fact, it very much understands the decision.
“I told @miley yesterday I felt good about her going with her first name,” Billy Ray shared in a Sept. 2 Instagram post. Referencing musical icons like Cher, Elvis Presley, Prince and Miley’s own godmother Dolly Parton, he noted it was “a natural progression for an iconic superstar legend.”
Besides, noted the “Achy Breaky Heart” artist, who once tried to convince his label to let him go by CYRUS, “I always called my little girl Miley. Just … Miley.” (Well, technically she was born Destiny Hope before her sunny disposition earned her the nickname of Smiley, eventually truncated to Miley.)
The pop star—set to drop her 10th album, Bass Persuades, Sept. 18—is just the latest celeb kid to come at her famed moniker like a wrecking ball.
Four of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt‘s six kids—Maddox, Zahara, Shiloh and Vivienne—have all decided that their double-barreled last name was the pitts, while Suri Noelle traded Dad Tom Cruise‘s surname for mom Katie Holmes‘ middle moniker.
And several more have had the audacity to hope they could better fly under the radar by not being immediately linked to their well-known parents. (See: Malia Obama‘s decision to be credited as Malia Ann on her 2023 film project The Heart.)
Check out all the celebrity offspring who tried to make a new name for themselves.
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