WRECKING BALL

Miley Cyrus Says She Was Fired and Replaced by Selena Gomez for Popular Movie After X-Rated Joke

The Disney Channel alum says a scandalous leaked photo got her fired from the lead role in a kids’ movie—and replaced with another Disney star.

Miley Cyrus almost starred in a second children’s franchise after Hannah Montana, but lost out over a raunchy joke. Appearing on Monica Lewinsky’s podcast “Reclaiming,” Cyrus revealed she was fired from the first Hotel Transylvania movie over a photo of her posing with a penis-shaped cake in 2011. The “Flowers” singer, 32, said she was initially cast to voice the “lead actress” role—presumably Mavis, the daughter of Adam Sandler’s Dracula. However, she was dropped from the production after the risqué photo leaked online. Cyrus told Lewinsky, 51, that she bought the cake as a joke for her then-boyfriend, Liam Hemsworth, and never even posted the snap, which instead went viral after someone stole her camera. Sony didn’t find the joke very funny, and, according to Cyrus, fired her because the image didn’t align with a children’s movie. Cyrus said her firing was one of many times her behavior was put on a “pedestal” because she starred in franchises made for children. “I was 18, so yes, I was fine to work in a kids’ movie, but I’m not a kid,” she added. The role of Mavis eventually went to fellow Disney Channel alum Selena Gomez, who voiced the character in four movies that together grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide.