The Truth About Miley Cyrus' Love Life

Miley Cyrus has been at the center the American pop culture landscape for as long as we can remember. The television star, who became a musician and sex symbol, cut her teeth at Disney, later breaking away in a big way and revamping her image. No stranger to controversy, Cyrus has been in the limelight ever since, captivating audiences with her fearless sexuality and catchy pop melodies.

Just as Cyrus has evolved over the years, so too has her taste in lovers, starting with teen boy idols and morphing into some of the most recognizable studs in Hollywood. All the while, Cyrus has remained a free spirit, casting aside the gender norms of previous generations and expressing herself to the fullest. Nothing and no one can tell Miley who she is!

So who are the lucky people that Cyrus has smooched over the years? How many hearts has she broken and has anyone ever been careless with hers? And will Cyrus ever settle down with someone she can call a forever person? This is the truth about Miley Cyrus' love life.

Despite the fact the relationship between Nick Jonas and Miley Cyrus was never officially official, the two were certainly close between 2006 and 2007. "We became boyfriend and girlfriend the day we met," Cyrus recalled in a 2008 interview with Seventeen magazine (via Today). "He was on a quest to meet me, and he was like, 'I think you're beautiful and I really like you.' And I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, I like you so much.'"

The couple lasted for approximately two years, and, during that time, they were together around the clock. But by the end of 2007, it became clear that the relationship had run its course — and Cyrus and Jonas parted ways. "At first I bawled for a month straight," she continued. "I was so sad. I just went into this weird funk." She also dyed her hair in an act of rebellion against Jonas' preferences, before realizing that she had to figure out who she was independent of him.

It wasn't long after Miley Cyrus' split from Nick Jonas that she was spotted spending time with model Justin Gaston. But as Cyrus tells it, she wasn't rushing to put labels on things right away, preferring instead to go with the flow. "After my last two years, there's been a lot of things that happened," she explained in a 2008 interview with on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM radio show (via MTV News). "So I've learned just not to judge anyone and go into our friendship with an open mind and not really worry about the age or anything."

So when she was asked directly if she and Gaston, who have an age difference of five years, were an item, the then-15-year-old deflected, but acknowledged that she was feeling content. "Right now, everything is, like, really good," she continued. "I haven't really been answering the question much just because we're just really happy with everything and the way everything has worked out. I'm totally gushing right now!"

Cyrus also added that both of their families approve of each other.

In 2009, Miley Cyrus met one of the great loves of her life on the set of the Nicholas Sparks movie The Last Song: actor Liam Hemsworth, who's famous for playing Gale in The Hunger Games. The pair hit it off right away and dated off-and-on for three years before Hemsworth popped the big question in 2012, according to People magazine. "I'm so happy to be engaged and look forward to a life of happiness with Liam," Cyrus told the magazine at the time.

But that happiness was short-lived, as the next year Cyrus and Hemsworth called it quits, but they didn't go running back to each other this time. "I just believe that when a chapter is done, you have to close it and start that new one," Cyrus revealed in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. "That's kind of where I am right now."

Cyrus added that she's focusing on her music and her personal growth, rather than on a relationship. "Sometimes it takes you separating from someone else to really be happy with who you are," she added.

After Miley Cyrus' split from Liam Hemsworth in 2013, rumors began to circulate that she was getting quite cozy with Twilight actor Kellan Lutz after she reached out to him in December of that year. "The next day, they hung out," a source told Us Weekly. "And they've been hooking up ever since." Allegedly Cyrus invited him to go with her to the Bahamas for a quick trip as well.

Although it seemed plausible at the time, Lutz has since gone on the record saying that he and Cyrus were never an item. "For Miley, I've been friends with her for six years now and we run in the same circle," he shared in an interview with E! News. "It's always interesting when two public figures who might be single are seen together. Oh let's start a rumor that they might be together... I just laugh it off."

So while it sounds like the pair were always just friends on paper, who knows if there were secret sparks?

If you thought that the rumors swirling about Miley Cyrus and Kellan Lutz were scandalous, they were one-upped the next year when sources started buzzing about Cyrus and actor Jared Leto. The pair were allegedly "hooking up," according to a 2014 article in Us Weekly. "She stayed over at his house in L.A. in early February," one source confirmed. The plot thickens!

While the magazine asserted that Cyrus and Leto, who's also been linked with Halsey, had been friends for a while, their bond had apparently deepened as they spent more time together. "They like to have a good time, they love to talk about art and music — and they're both comfortable with nudity," another source claimed.

However, even if the two were indeed having a casual fling, a serious relationship was likely never in the cards. "Jared doesn't do girlfriends," yet another source told the magazine. And given that Cyrus was only a year out from her breakup with Liam Hemsworth, chances are she wasn't looking to settle down either. We can only speculate!

It doesn't take much speculation to figure out that, at one point, Miley Cyrus was pretty into Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. The two were spotted locking lips at a game between the USC Trojans and the California Golden Bears in 2014, according to the Los Angeles Times. Additionally, Schwarzenegger and Cyrus attended the Pre-Grammy Gala together in 2015, according to BuzzFeed. TMZ even reported that there was talk of them possibly getting married!

But the romance abruptly came to an end a mere five months after it was kindled, according to the Los Angeles Times, after photos surfaced of Schwarzenegger getting pretty cozy with a girl in Cabo. This was despite Schwarzenegger's tweets insisting he would never cheat on his girlfriend and appearing to say that the girl was just a friend.

Whether or not the photos were the nail in the coffin of their love, Cyrus and Schwarzenegger broke up for good after that. Who knows what could have been?

When Miley Cyrus entered her early 20s, she embarked on a journey of reflection and self-discovery. That led her to come to the conclusion that she was not comfortable within the constraints of heteronormativity, something she's become quite outspoken about. "I'm not hiding my sexuality. For me, I don't want to label myself as anything," she explained in a May 2015 interview with Time magazine. "We love putting people in categories, but what I like sexually isn't going to label me as a person."

But later that year, Cyrus did find a label that she's comfortable with, and she decided to share it with the world. "I'm very open about it — I'm pansexual," Cyrus, who's changed considerably since her early years in Hollywood, revealed in an October 2015 interview with Elle magazine. "But I'm not in a relationship. I'm 22, I'm going on dates, but I change my style every two weeks, let alone who I'm with." You do you, Miley!

In addition to better understanding her gender and sexual orientation, Miley Cyrus also became a self-professed feminist. That's been instrumental in helping Cyrus treasure her alone time, as she feels completely whole within herself and is fine without romance in her life. "There are times in my life where I've had boyfriends or girlfriends," she shared in an interview with Time magazine. "And there are times where I just love being with myself and don't want to give part of myself away to someone else." That's a super healthy perspective.

Cyrus also recognizes that this kind of mindset isn't something that's been around forever, as women's roles have grown and evolved over the years. "I think that's a new freedom for women, especially," she continued. "I don't know that my mother would have been able to be 22 and secure in being alone. But my future doesn't rely on having a partner."

Miley Cyrus once again had people turning heads when she reportedly hooked up with Stella Maxwell in 2015. The musician and the model were spotted having a hot and heavy make-out session after a video shoot, according to Entertainment Tonight, in addition to gracing each other's social media posts and appearing in a sensual W magazine photo spread together. And, as TMZ reported, Cyrus and Maxwell were supposedly "in lust," unable to keep their hands off of each other.

Alas, anyone who believed that Cyrus was going to settle down with the blonde beauty had their hopes dashed, as the relationship... wasn't exactly a relationship. "Stella's awesome, but as soon as you hang out with someone, you get labelled as in a relationship," she explained in an interview with Elle magazine. "And I'm like, you can't just assume that everyone I'm sitting at dinner with is a date. It'd be like we're on a date right now." She does have a point!

The year 2018 was an intense one for Miley Cyrus, as she both reconnected with Liam Hemsworth and lost the Malibu home they shared in the devastating Woosley Fire, according to Rolling Stone magazine. But the silver lining from the tragedy was that it strengthened the bond between the on-again, off-again couple, seemingly inspiring them to get married. "When you experience what we experienced together with someone, it is like glue. You're the only two people in the world who can understand," she revealed in an interview with Vanity Fair. "Liam and I have also found a new bond underneath all that rubble."

In spite of their renewed connection, the wedded bliss didn't last long, as the pair once again parted ways less than a year later. "Liam and Miley have agreed to separate at this time," a representative for Cyrus told People magazine in a statement. "Ever-evolving, changing as partners and individuals, they have decided this is what's best while they both focus on themselves and careers."

In true Miley Cyrus fashion, it was only a matter of weeks before she had someone new by her side and holding her hand as she came off of her split from Liam Hemsworth. This time, it was blogger Kaitlynn Carter who was on the receiving end of Cyrus' affections, according to People. "Miley is very close with Kaitlynn. It's romantic, but also a friendship," a source told the magazine. "They are both going through similar stuff right now and are bonding over it."

Carter, who'd previously been in a relationship with Brody Jenner, opened up about falling in love with Cyrus in Elle magazine, describing her first romance with a woman as eye-opening and transformative. "Although the relationship with my friend was often referenced in the media as merely a 'summer fling' or a 'same-sex affair,' it was so much more than that," she penned in the article. "This was a profound journey of self-discovery. For the first time, I listened to myself, forgot about the 'norm,' and lived."

Carter hopes that others will feel free to discover their authentic selves as well.

The latter part of 2019 found Miley Cyrus snuggling up to a tall, handsome stud from Australia — only this time he wasn't named Liam Hemsworth. Rather, Cyrus hooked up with model and musician Cody Simpson, who'd been nursing a crush on her for a number of years. "I knew all the words to her songs, I'm not gonna lie. I'm not ashamed about it at all," he confessed in a 2012 interview with Fuse. "I was a big Miley Cyrus fan. I think she will be forever the most dateable Disney star."

Cyrus and Simpson showed how they'd taken with one another on their Instagram pages, even showing that they'd gotten tattoos together. Additionally, they were spotted smooching while out and about (via TMZ). Cyrus even referred to Simpson as her "BF" in an Instagram story (via E! News), and gushed about his musical skills in another one (via E! News).

One thing's for sure when it comes to Miley Cyrus, and that's that she's a free spirit who can't be confined by anyone's rules and regulations. She's also deeply in touch with her feelings and believes that what she falls for in people is beyond any gender binary. "What I preach is: People fall in love with people, not gender, not looks, not whatever," she proclaimed in an interview with Vanity Fair. "What I'm in love with exists on almost a spiritual level. It has nothing to do with sexuality." 

It could be argued that this is part of a greater trend, wherein younger people are rejecting the norms and values of their parents' generation. "Relationships and partnerships in a new generation — I don't think they have so much to do with sexuality or gender," she continued. "Sex is actually a small part, and gender is a very small, almost irrelevant part of relationships."

While you may or may not agree with Cyrus' assessment, it's certainly something she's confident about for herself — and that's really all that matters.

So what does Miley Cyrus' future look like, especially when it comes to romance? Will she ever settle down with one forever person? Those questions aren't likely to be answered anytime soon, as Cyrus is very much living in the moment. "No one is promised the next day, or the next, so I try to be 'in the now' as much as possible," she revealed in an interview with Vanity Fair. "If I ever find myself thinking too far ahead, I acknowledge that anxiety and bring myself back into my body and out of my head."

But Cyrus is striving for more balance in her future, something that's not necessarily easy for her. "People like myself have a hard time comprehending a middle ground, I thrive on extremes, but I am learning to live in that sometimes uncomfortable and itchy in-between," she continued. "I want to live a long life full of love, music, and adventure. I believe balance will get me there. Balance and moderation."

We wish you luck in all of your endeavors, Miley — both romantic and otherwise!