Personal life

Cyrus suffers from a mild heart condition causing tachycardia. In her autobiography, Miles to Go, Cyrus writes, "There is never a time onstage when I'm not thinking about my heart".[1] In January 2008, Cyrus announced her intent to officially change her name to "Miley Ray Cyrus," her middle name reflecting that of her father.[84] The name change became official on May 1, 2008.[3] In an interview with USA Today, Cyrus was quoted as saying her faith is "the main thing" and is the reason why she works in Hollywood.[85] When interviewed by Parade, she added that she attends church regularly with her family.[26] In an interview with Christianity Today, Billy Ray Cyrus said, "Being Christian, we believe in heaven," and "We also had a great church, and when you give up your church, your pastor, and the community you are involved in, you're making a big sacrifice. Let's face it, Hollywood is a completely different environment than Franklin, Tennessee."[86]

In February 2008, Cyrus and her friend Mandy Jiroux (who is also a backup dancer for Cyrus) began creating videos on YouTube called The Miley and Mandy Show. The show, described as a "YouTube hit," is said to be filmed for fun by Cyrus and Jiroux and to be entirely their work, with Cyrus and Jiroux editing the footage together. It is filmed mainly in Cyrus's bedroom.[87] Cyrus was also popular on the social networking site Twitter; her site was watched by approximately 2 million Twitter users in addition to the general public when she deleted it on October 8, 2009.[88][89] In the September 2008 issue of Seventeen, Cyrus stated she had been in a relationship with Nick Jonas for two years, and that they "were in love". They broke up at the end of 2007.[90] In June 2009, Cyrus ended a nine month long relationship with Nashville Star contestant and model Justin Gaston.[91]