US pop star and actress Miley Cyrus has revealed her stint on hit US kids' show Hannah Montana probably caused her "some body dysmorphia" because TV bosses had a very high beauty standard.
Cyrus rose to fame on the the Disney Channel show, which featured a teen girl living a double life as a world-famous singer.
In the new issue of glossy fashion mag Marie Claire, the 22-year-old admits that playing a picture perfect celebrity first introduced her to the demands of beauty.
"From the time I was 11, it was, 'You're a pop star! That means you have to be blonde, and you have to have long hair, and you have to put on some glittery tight thing'.
Meanwhile, I'm this fragile little girl playing a 16-year-old in a wig and a ton of makeup."
Cyrus adds the way her character was portrayed greatly influenced the way she looked at herself, unknowingly adopting body issues as a young girl.
"I was made to look like someone that I wasn't, which probably caused some body dysmorphia because I had been made pretty every day for so long, and then when I wasn't on that show, it was like, 'Who the f*** am I?"'
But now that Cyrus has come to accept her own personal standard of beauty, she realises that her job as an entertainer isn't just to be a pretty face.
"I'm probably never going to be the face of a traditional beauty company unless they want a weed-smoking, liberal-ass freak. But my dream was never to sell lip gloss. My dream is to save the world," Cyrus said.
A young Miley Cyrus starring on Disney's Hannah Montana.
The star worked such long hours on the show, her mother suggested bringing in special lights to help with depression triggered by seasonal affective disorder.
She told Marie Claire: "Every morning, I was getting coffee jammed down my throat to wake me up. I just had to keep going, be tough, be strong. Everything happened to me on that set."
Cyrus also revealed that she was horrified when she got her first period during filming of the show.
She recalled: "It was so embarrassing, but I couldn't leave. And I was crying, begging my mom, 'You're going to have to put the tampon in. I have to be on set.'
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