Miley Cyrus believes the reason she and her father, country star Billy Ray Cyrus, have had a "wildly different" relationship to fame has everything to do with how they each grew up.
The "Used to Be Young" singer grew emotional while speaking about her father in her recent special "Endless Summer Vacation: Continued (Backyard Sessions)" streaming on Hulu.
She noted how Billy Ray's upbringing in Kentucky and her childhood as the daughter of a prominent musician made a difference in how the two of them have handled fame in their music careers.
"My dad grew up the opposite of me," she says in the special. "I grew up on a soundstage, in a house with a family that was super close and all lived under the same roof.
"And I grew up financially stable and emotionally stable I think in my relationships also," she continued. "And that’s something that my dad didn’t have. I’ve seen how that affects a lot of people that go from having nothing to everything. It’s a really dangerous place. So I think that’s where me and my dad’s relationship to fame and success is wildly different."
The elder Cyrus had the No. 1 country song in the nation in 1992 when Miley was born and played to sold-out shows behind his hit "Achy Breaky Heart."
"Him feeling loved by a big audience impacted him emotionally more than it ever could me," she said. "When he feels special or important, it's like healing a childhood wound, and I've always been made to feel like a star.
"It makes me emotional," she continued while holding back tears. "So I think that's the difference."
Cyrus, 30, also shows old footage of her watching her father play guitar and sing when she was a young child.
"I do have a lot of great memories singing music with my dad, and learning and watching his voice and the way that he's using the instrument," she said. "I will say that I feel, vocally, my dad was underappreciated."
Another clip shared by Cyrus on TikTok shows Billy Ray telling an interviewer that a young Miley loved to dance and "will bring a lot of hope to the world."
"I'm just grateful that that was projected into the universe before I could even fathom what that meant," she said. "There's gratitude for that being the energy that was attached to my vessel because it became a reality."
Cyrus purposefully released her new single, "Used to be Young, " on Aug. 25 partially because it's her father's birthday. The song reflects on her career at 30.