Miley Cyrus is not about to let anyone wield a wrecking ball against her privacy. After the news of her engagement to Maxx Morando was confirmed on December 2, following four years of dating, the "Flowers" singer broke her silence to share that she is "astounded" they've been able to keep most of the details under wraps. "The detail I can share is that, for us, our privacy and keeping it small has been something that I've been astounded that I've actually been able to have," Miley explained to People in an interview published on December 2, "and being able to have more choice."
The 33-year-old partly credits her age with being able to set boundaries when it comes to her romance with Maxx, 27. As she put it, "It's also being older, being more protective of what I'm open to sharing." And that's not the only aspect of their relationship that she's proud of.
For Miley, who finalized her divorce from Liam Hemsworth in 2020, less than two years after their California home burned down in the Malibu fires, meeting and falling in love with Maxx in 2021 proved her capacity for "starting over" and "building again." "After I lost my house in the fires, that wasn't all that I lost," Miley explained during a December 1 press conference, per Hello! magazine. "I really actually went down to the ashes and rebuilt my life personally and physically [with] my home."
As for how the Grammy winner knows she and Maxx will stand the test of time, for one, she told Harper's Bazaar in 2024 that they "don't take life too seriously." Plus, Maxx's astrological sign doesn't hurt either. "He's a Scorpio and so is his grandfather, that's what makes Maxx just so cool because he can sting," Miley shared during a June appearance on the Sorry We're Cyrus podcast. "Like, [Scorpios are] very cool, think that they're little angels, until it turns around and they got a sting." She added, "I couldn't be with someone [who] doesn't sting—they would have been toast already."
