Miley Cyrus on Pansexual Identity: ‘I Always Hated the Word Bisexual’

Miley Cyrus discussed her return to acting in Woody Allen’s Crisis in Six Scenes, encouraged waffling Bernie Sanders supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton and opened up about her pansexual identity in a new interview with Variety.

Despite starting her career as a Disney Channel star and fronting movies like The Last Song and Bolt, Cyrus has spent the past several years focusing on music and social activism. During the interview, she admitted “acting is boring” and that she almost turned down Allen’s new Amazon series, but was eventually won over by the role ”” a Sixties flower-child/activist ”” and noted she’s long been a fan of Allen’s movies.

Cyrus recalled the filmmaker’s casual air on set, saying, “You do like two takes. He just wants to go home and have dinner with his wife. One night it was 5:30, and the camera operator wanted to do another take. He goes, ‘I can’t dedicate my entire life to making movies.'”

Cyrus also addressed the sexual abuse allegations leveled against Allen by his daughter, Dylan Farrow, and whether that caused her to question working on Crisis in Six Scenes. “I live a similar life to Woody ”“ I live a public life,” Cyrus said. “Until I know someone and I know their story, I never really judge anyone. That’s kind of how I went into it. From the way I saw him with his family, I never saw him be anything but an incredible person and a really great dad. People might slam me for saying that. I’m sure it was a hard time for that family. My family has been through hard things, and I think everyone’s suffering is different.”

The pop star also opened up about coming to understand her own pansexual identity and getting involved with the LGBTQ community. “My whole life, I didn’t understand my own gender and my own sexuality,” Cyrus said. “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. Also, my nipple pasties and shit never felt sexualized to me. 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.”