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Miley Cyrus on Being a 'Queer Person' in a 'Hetero Relationship' with Husband Liam Hemsworth

Miley Cyrus may be in a heterosexual relationship with husband Liam Hemsworth, but she still identifies herself as a queer person — and sees their marriage as an opportunity to change how people view love, gender, and sexuality.

In a wide-ranging interview and a personal essay for Vanity Fair‘s March cover story, the music star got candid about why she and Hemsworth tied the knot in December, and how it hasn’t shifted her place in the LGBTQ+ community.

“The reason that people get married sometimes can be old-fashioned, but I think the reason we got married isn’t old-fashioned — I actually think it’s kind of New Age,” Cyrus, 26, said. “We’re redefining, to be f—ing frank, what it looks like for someone that’s a queer person like myself to be in a hetero relationship.”

“A big part of my pride and my identity is being a queer person,” the Hannah Montana alum said. “What I preach is: People fall in love with people, not gender, not looks, not whatever. What I’m in love with exists on almost a spiritual level. It has nothing to do with sexuality. Relationships and partnerships in a new generation — I don’t think they have so much to do with sexuality or gender. Sex is actually a small part, and gender is a very small, almost irrelevant part of relationships.”

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Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus
Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus

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Admitting to interviewer Zach Baron that the move was “kind of out of character for me,” Cyrus made it clear that she and Hemsworth “definitely didn’t need [marriage] in any way” to cement their bond.

Still, she said was looking for stability in her life at the time, which followed the loss of the Malibu home she shared with Hemsworth — and all of their possessions including their photographs, art, and other mementos — in the Woosley fire.

That didn’t mean she was “putting a Band-Aid on a bad situation and saying, ‘Oh well, you know, now everything will be better,’ ” Cyrus noted — “Because a lot of people use marriage I think maybe for a cure.” Instead, Cyrus took inspiration from her “favorite woman in the world, Hillary Clinton” and realized that she and Hemsworth were “stronger together.”

“That’ll make me get emotional. That’s what she meant by it,” Cyrus said. “Like, who gives a f— if he’s a guy, if I’m a girl, or if he was a woman — who gives a f—? We really are stronger together. One is the loneliest number.”

Asked if she feels different being married, Cyrus said, “Zero percent different.”

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth
Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth

Cyrus also penned a personal essay for Vanity Fair, talking more about her queerness there.

“Being someone who takes such pride in individuality and freedom, and being a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, I’ve been inspired by redefining again what a relationship in this generation looks like,” she said. “Sexuality and gender identity are completely separate from partnership.”

The essay gave Cyrus an opportunity to describe why she kept some elements of her wedding traditional, too. “I wore a dress on my wedding day because I felt like it, I straightened my hair because I felt like it, but that doesn’t make me become some instantly ‘polite hetero lady,’ ” she wrote, adding in parentheses that, “PS: Straight women are badass, too.”

All in all, Cyrus made it clear that her marriage to Hemsworth hasn’t taken anything away from who she is as a person.

“My relationship is very special to me, it is my home,” she said in her essay for the outlet. “I feel less misplaced when we are in the same room, no matter where that is, but just because something changes in my relationship doesn’t mean something has to drastically change in my individuality.”

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L??VE YOU Valentine @liamhemsworth

A post shared by Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus) on Feb 14, 2019 at 12:55pm PST

View this post on Instagram

My Valentine every single day ?? @liamhemsworth

A post shared by Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus) on Feb 14, 2019 at 12:45pm PST

As fans of Cyrus and Hemsworth, 29, know, the couple first met 10 years prior, while working together on the set of The Last Song.

Earlier this month, in honor of their first Valentine’s Day together as a married couple, Cyrus shared a handful of touching photos on Instagram.

“My Valentine every single day,” Cyrus captioned the first black-and-white image, which shows her and the actor snuggling up at their wedding.

Vanity Fair‘s March issue hits newsstands nationally on March 5. It is available Feb. 26 in New York, Los Angeles, and on devices such as the iPhone and Kindle.