Miley Cyrus Talks About Identity Crisis She Faced During 'Hannah Montana'

Miley Cyrus rose to stardom after appearing in the popular Disney sitcom "Hannah Montana," which aired from 2006 to 2011. However, the path to success has not always been easy for the singer who recently opened about how the character caused her "identity crisis."

Cyrus said on the "Rock This with Allison Hagendorf" podcast that playing the title role of a regular teenage girl by day and pop star by night impacted her sense of self.

The 28-year-old singer said on Friday: "Talk about an identity crisis. A character almost as often as I was myself, and actually, the concept of the show is that when you're this character, when you have this alter ego, you're valuable."

"You've got, like, millions of fans, you're the biggest star in the world, and then the concept was that when I looked like myself, when I didn't have the wig on anymore, no one cared about me, I wasn't a star anymore," she added.

Cyrus, who started in the series when was 14 years old and finished when she was 19 years old, noted “that was drilled into my head, like, 'without being Hannah Montana, no one cares about you' and that was the concept.”

The singer said she had to really "break that" mentality and acknowledged her music album "Bangerz" released in 2013 was the first step toward finding her own identity different from the Disney network.

"That's maybe why I almost created a characterized version of myself at times. ... I never created a character where it wasn't me, but I was aware of how people saw me and I maybe played into it a little bit," she said.

During the podcast, she also reflected on her #1 rock album Plastic Hearts, why anyone should never take "no" for an answer, and the lessons fame taught her. Cyrus also spoke about the women she looks up to for inspiration like her godmother Dolly Parton, Bikini Kill, Joan Jett and Stevie Nicks.

In an interview with Rolling Stone on Dec. 4, the singer admitted she "had to evolve because Hannah was larger than life, larger than me. I felt like I was never going to amount to the success of Hannah Montana."