The Truth About Dolly Parton's Relationship With Miley Cyrus

These days Miley Cyrus is as much a mainstream pop artist as a country music star, but her roots will always be in country. She is, after all, the daughter of country musician Billy Ray Cyrus, and she does on occasion still "go country" in her live performances and in her choice of cover material, according to Taste of Country. Miley's relationship to Billy Ray is enough to give the musician — who according to IMDb got her start on the Disney Channel TV series "Hannah Montana" in the early aughts — some serious country pedigree.

In actuality, though, Miley has another family connection to Nashville royalty rooted much further back in the genre than her dad's early-'90s novelty hit, "Achy Breaky Heart." Miley wrote about this relationship in a profile of the country music legend in TIME Magazine's 2021 Most Influential People edition. She called this person her "fairy godmother," and as fanciful as that sounds, it's partially true. 

Despite all outward appearances, Dolly Parton is not actually a fairy godmother, but she really is Miley Cyrus' very human godmother, and she even made an appearance on the young star's TV show, "Hannah Montana," back in 2006, according to Biography. In 2009, Parton explained to Good Morning America how this honorary matriarchal relationship to Cyrus came about.

"I've known her since she was a baby," she said, "Her father's a friend of mine, and when she was born, he said, 'You just have to be her godmother,' and I said, 'I accept.' We never did do a big ceremony, but I'm so proud of her, love her and she's just like one of my own."

And in her Time profile of Parton, Cyrus wrote, "Dolly is not only my idol because of her incomparable career — she's also my role model because of her steadfast morals and values. At her core, she is the definition of a humanitarian." Cyrus also said, "Have you ever met anyone who doesn't love Dolly Parton? I never have." Neither have we, Miley. Neither have we.