Miley Cyrus received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday, delivering an emotional speech that referenced her estranged father, Billy Ray Cyrus, despite his absence from the ceremony.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cyrus was joined at the event by her mother Tish Cyrus, her sister Brandi Cyrus, and her fiancé Maxx Morando. Billy Ray Cyrus, a fellow musician, did not attend following a falling out between the two in recent years. Still, Miley Cyrus worked a nod to her father into her remarks.
"My dad used to say that a skyscraper starts with a jackhammer — so does a star on the Walk of Fame by the way — and it's not about the force, but it's about the repetition," she said. "What feels so special to me about this star is that it's an accumulation of devotion."
Cyrus grew visibly emotional during her speech as she thanked the people around her. "To my family, my future family, parents, my mom, my siblings, my friends, my collaborators, thank you for loving and supporting not only the choices that I make, but my fears, and then facing them with me," she said. "Today is something that I'll never forget and I'm always going to cherish. I love you all so much, thank you."
She also spoke at length about what the honor meant to her, and what she hoped her legacy would be. "The star isn't something that you win like a seasonal game. It's not something that you can chase or collect. It's not something you make the next record for, and then tote it around like a trophy," she said. She committed to continuing her work after the ceremony concluded. "After today, I commit to continuing the cycle of creation, because that is what I truly live for. My hope is what I leave behind continues to affect the hearts of generations to come, ones that I won't be here to experience. I hope it awakens something raw and imperfect and sexy and glamorous and joyful in times that need it."
Actress Anya Taylor-Joy and fashion designer Donatella Versace both appeared at the ceremony to pay tribute. Taylor-Joy recalled first encountering Cyrus in J-14 magazine. "I knew this and her were going to be huge," Taylor-Joy said. "What I did not know [is that] 'huge' would barely begin to cover it."
The Walk of Fame honor came less than a year after Cyrus released her album Something Beautiful, which includes a song called "Walk of Fame." That track was co-written by Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard, who also performs on it. The visual album included a "Walk of Fame" video that showed Cyrus on the star-lined sidewalk.
Cyrus addressed the song's closing lyric directly in her remarks. "Although I love the lyric, the fact I won't [live forever] is what creates the urgency that sets my heart on fire, my life and my art, and my desire to break down the walls of any boxes that we've been tricked to believe that exist," she said.
