Miley Cyrus reveals onstage anxiety attack was triggered by a 'cocktail of chaos'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Miley Cyrus shared a rare account of an anxiety attack she experienced onstage during a 2022 performance in Mexico. The ‘Party in the USA’ singer opened up about the experience and revealed what led to the anxiety attack.
The 'Flowers' singer said that she had an “actual anxiety attack on stage” during the performance. “Truly, my nervous system was just so shocked,” she said.
Miley Cyrus reveals how a 'cocktail of chaos' overwhelmed her during 2022 show
In a recent interview with Zane Lowe, Cyrus said one thing that helped train her soul to perform again was realizing that she is her own worst critic: “Nobody cares the way that I do.” “I was saying to the crowd, ‘I’m having an anxiety attack.’ And they were like, ‘Hell yeah, we’re having anxiety attacks,’” she recalled.
“I guess it wasn’t so much anxiety, as I realize now in hindsight; it was just a buildup of the cocktail of chaos, you could say,” she explained. “Living through a global pandemic like everyone else.” She explained that Foo Fighters rocker Taylor Hawkins’ sudden death on March 25, 2022, also affected her. They were neighbors and became close friends during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She recalled that his death happened shortly after she flew to Paraguay to perform at the Asuncionico Music Festival, where the Foo Fighters were also scheduled to perform.
However, Cyrus’ plane had to make an emergency landing during a storm after it was struck by lightning. While recalling the “super terrifying” event, Cyrus said the first person she called afterwards was Hawkins.
“He’s like, ‘Man, I’m here. It’s raining, but like the show’s going to be sick,’” Cyrus recalled. “And the next day he was gone.”
“In that moment I was standing on stage, and it was an outdoor show, and I could see the moon, and I started getting existential of how small I am and how I started thinking about time,” Cyrus recalled.
“And this is all while I’m performing ‘Fly on the Wall’... and in my head I’m like, ‘We’re all going to die one day,’ and I’m on a rock hurtling through space and my really good friend’s dead and I’m living in a pandemic, and I’m really sick, and I actually can’t breathe for real.”
Miley Cyrus talks about Dolly Parton
During the interview, Cyrus shared her thoughts on Dolly Parton. “The time that we talked, which was the last time we would talk, it was actually me telling her about this record because, even though we are so different, that’s what made us so perfect for each other is that and she knew this and I know this."
Cyrus continued, "She is known for… the faux, the fake, the hair, the makeup, the show of it. But there’s a part of her that’s just what everyone gravitates towards, (which) is how real she is and how authentic she is.”
“And they’ve laid down, brick by brick, the road that I travel now. And they aren’t always going to be here for me to call them and say, ‘What do I do now?’ Which I always did with Dolly,” she added.
