Miley Cyrus Says She's Been Sober For 6 Months After Vocal Cord Surgery

Miley Cyrus has spent the first half of 2020 embracing an alcohol-free lifestyle. 

The 27-year-old actor and singer tells Variety that she quit drinking to undergo vocal cord surgery last fall. She decided to stay sober after recovering from the procedure, too. 

“I’ve been sober sober for the past six months,” she said. “At the beginning, it was just about this vocal surgery. … But I had been thinking a lot about my mother. My mom was adopted, and I inherited some of the feelings she had, the abandonment feelings and wanting to prove that you’re wanted and valuable.”

“I did a lot of family history, which has a lot of addiction and mental health challenges,” she added. “So just going through that and asking, ‘Why am I the way that I am?’ By understanding the past, we understand the present and the future much more clearly. I think therapy is great.” 

The Grammy nominee has found creative ways to stay active while hunkering down amid the coronavirus crisis. In April, she appeared on an “at-home” episode of “Saturday Night Live ,” performing a haunting version of Pink Floyd’s 1975 classic, “Wish You Were Here .” 

She also launched an Instagram Live series, “Bright Minded: Live With Miley ,” and gave boyfriend Cody Simpson a quarantine makeover for what appeared to be a forthcoming art project with photographer Mert Atlas . 

Speaking to Variety on Tuesday , Cyrus said sobriety had helped “polish up my craft” but admitted that breaking out of the party-centric mindset of many of her peers was tricky. 

“It’s really hard because especially being young, there’s that stigma of ‘you’re no fun,’” she said . “It’s like, ‘Honey, you can call me a lot of things, but I know that I’m fun.’ The thing that I love about it is waking up 100 percent, 100 percent of the time. I don’t want to wake up feeling groggy. I want to wake up feeling ready.”