After starting her career as a child star in 2001, Miley Cyrus certainly has learned the showbiz principle that “the show must go on” — even while your house is burning down.
While promoting her new single “Used To Be Young,” which was released on Aug. 25, Cyrus opened up about her time filming one of the three Season 5 installments of Black Mirror, in which she portrayed pop star Ashley O in the episode entitled “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too.”
The fifth season, which hit Netflix in June 2019, was filmed in November 2018, during which the rampant Woolsey wildfires were consuming California. Unfortunately, Cyrus and then-fiance Liam Hemsworth‘s home in Malibu burned down in the disaster.
“I was in South Africa [filming], but it was taking place in Malibu, so it was just a real trip,” she revealed in a clip posted to her TikTok yesterday.
The clip opened with a scene from the Black Mirror episode, where Cyrus’ Ashley O is seen strapped to a gurney.
“Like probably two or three years later, after this happened, I didn’t understand, but I would have this anxiety attack with a vision attached — that I would be strapped down to a gurney,” she explained. “So I would have these dreams any time I would go to perform.”
Initially she thought it was “just an anxious vision that made no sense,” but eventually realized that “as [her] house was burning down, [she] was strapped to a gurney with [her] hands locked in handcuffs, strapped to a bed.”
“Found out that my house had burnt to the ground,” she added. “This was the next day,” she said, turning her tablet around and pressing play on the music video for “On a Roll,” which begins the episode. “The show must go on,” she quipped.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cyrus had tweeted about losing her home on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2018.
“Completely devastated by the fires affecting my community,” she wrote, deeming herself “one of the lucky ones.”
She continued, “My animals and LOVE OF MY LIFE [Hemsworth] made it out safely & that’s all that matters right now. My house no longer stands but the memories shared with family & friends stand strong. I am grateful for all I have left. Sending so much love and gratitude to the firefighters and LA country Sheriff’s department!”
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Cyrus said that the fire led to her and Hemsworth getting married just a month after they lost their home.
“I’m not sure without losing Malibu, we would’ve been ready to take this step or ever even gotten married, who can say?” she told the outlet. “But the timing felt right and I go with my heart.”
The two filed for divorce in August 2019. Since then, fans have speculated that her song “Flowers,” which was released in January 2023, is about their relationship, per People.
Black Mirror is streaming on Netflix.