Miley Cyrus Revealed Why the Date August 25 Is of Notable Significance to Her – And What Just Happened on That Same Day

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Miley Cyrus | Source: Getty Images
Miley Cyrus Revealed Why the Date August 25 Is of Notable Significance to Her – And What Just Happened on That Same Day

What began as a curious pattern stretching across different chapters of her life has only grown more striking with time. Now, another deeply emotional event has added an unexpected new layer to a date the singer once singled out herself.

Some dates simply come and go. For Miley Cyrus, however, August 25 has a strange habit of becoming unforgettable — sometimes for triumphant reasons, sometimes for painful ones.

Long before the date took on its latest significance in 2026, Cyrus herself acknowledged that there was something unusually meaningful about it. And once the moments attached to August 25 are laid out together, it is easy to understand why.

Miley Cyrus Previously Explained Why August 25 Matters

In August 2023, while looking back on different chapters of her life, Cyrus revealed that she had deliberately chosen August 25 as the release date for her reflective single “Used to Be Young.”

“I decided to release ‘Used to Be Young’ on August 25th because this particular date historically has been important to me personally and in my career,” she explained in an excerpt shared on her YouTube channel.

At the time, Cyrus did not need to look far for examples. August 25 had already been connected to relationships, family, music, controversy, and some of the biggest turning points of her public life. Here are the moments that made the date stand out.

August 25, 2010: Her First Split from Liam Hemsworth Was Reported

One of the earliest major Cyrus headlines tied to the date came on August 25, 2010. That day, Us Weekly reported that Cyrus, then 17, and Australian Actor Liam Hemsworth had split, with Hemsworth’s representative confirming the breakup while Cyrus’ representative declined to comment.

The pair had met the previous year while filming “The Last Song,” an adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel. Months before the breakup report, Cyrus had spoken to Ellen DeGeneres about meeting Hemsworth during a period when she had actually planned to stay away from romance.

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth met while filming “The Last Song” in 2009, beginning a relationship that would become one of the most closely followed chapters of her personal life. Their first reported breakup came on August 25, 2010, giving the date an early place in Miley’s history. | Source: Getty Images

“I was actually going through a tough time,” she recalled. “I was like, guys just need to be out of my life for a little while. [I thought] ‘I just need to be alone.'” Then Hemsworth made an unexpectedly strong first impression.

“But I met him, and he opened the door for me, and I was like, I have been in L.A. for three years and I don’t think any guy has actually opened the door for me,” Cyrus said.

“It wasn’t that he wanted the job. That’s just who he is. I was like, ‘Wow, that is super-impressive.’ I actually turned to the director and said, ‘He’s got the job.’ He’s hot and he opened the door. Excellent.” Their relationship would eventually become one of the most closely followed romances of Cyrus’ life. But August 25 was only getting started.

Miley once recalled that she was not looking for romance when Liam entered her life, but his small gestures quickly changed her impression of him. Their relationship would go through several dramatic turns in the years that followed, long after that first August 25, 2010, split. | Source: Getty Images

August 25, 2013: ‘Wrecking Ball’ Arrived and Pop Culture Exploded

Three years later, the date became linked to an entirely different kind of Cyrus milestone. On August 25, 2013, the audio for “Wrecking Ball” was released, setting the stage for what would become one of the defining songs of her career.

Yet something else happened that very same day. Cyrus took the stage with Robin Thicke at the MTV Video Music Awards for a performance that immediately became one of the most debated pop-culture moments of the year.

As Rolling Stone later recalled, just six-and-a-half minutes were enough to dramatically alter the public conversation surrounding both stars. Cyrus performed “We Can’t Stop” before joining Thicke for his hit, “Blurred Lines,” with an over-the-top spectacle involving teddy bears, a foam finger, and plenty of twerking.

The backlash was immediate, but Cyrus effectively turned the uproar into publicity. The following day, she boasted about the enormous online reaction, writing, “Smilers! My VMA performance had 306,000 tweets per minute. That’s more than the blackout or Super Bowl! #fact.” Meanwhile, “Wrecking Ball” was beginning its own ascent.

Its headline-making music video premiered around two weeks later and broke the Vevo record for the most views within 24 hours, while the song ultimately climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — Cyrus’ first chart-topper there.

In other words, August 25, 2013 simultaneously produced one of her biggest controversies and helped launch one of her biggest hits.

August 25, 2013 became one of the most consequential days of Miley’s career, with “Wrecking Ball” arriving as her image was undergoing a dramatic transformation. Her now-infamous MTV VMA performance with Robin Thicke that same night sparked enormous backlash — and even bigger attention. | Source: Getty Images

August 25 Is Also Her Father’s Birthday

The date has an even more personal meaning for Cyrus. Her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, was born on August 25. That family connection was highlighted when the country artist shared an Instagram reel celebrating a deeply personal birthday gift from his daughter.

“For my birthday, Miley gave me the gift of music and wrote me a song called Secrets and got my favorite musicians Fleetwood Mac to play on it! I love you Mile ❤️ [sic],” he captioned the post. The touching gesture added yet another layer to a date already filled with milestones. But in 2023, Cyrus deliberately added one more herself.

August 25, 2023: She Chose the Date for ‘Used to Be Young’

Exactly a decade after the VMA performance and the arrival of “Wrecking Ball,” Cyrus released “Used to Be Young” on August 25, 2023. According to Sony Music’s announcement, the reflective track arrived as Cyrus revisited stories from the first 30 years of her life.

Its lyrics directly confronted the way her younger years had been perceived. “I know I used to be crazy,” Cyrus had previously said of the song. “I know I used to be fun. You say I used to be wild. I say I used to be young.”

The timing was particularly fitting. “Used to Be Young” arrived shortly before the 10th anniversary of her “Bangerz” album, the era that produced “Wrecking Ball,” “We Can’t Stop” and “Adore You.”

It also followed another enormous career chapter for Cyrus. Her album “Endless Summer Vacation” featured “Flowers,” which spent eight weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, while Sony noted that it also spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on U.S. pop radio and amassed billions of streams.

August 25, 2026: The Date Took on a New, Heartbreaking Meaning

On August 25, 2026, Dolly Parton’s family announced that the country music legend had died. Parton’s nephew Brian Seaver appeared in a video shared through Parton’s official Instagram account, explaining that the announcement was one his aunt had asked him to make years earlier.

“Hey everyone, my name is Brian Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I’m representing the Parton and Owens family today, announcing the passing of my Aunt Dolly Rebecca Parton-Dean,” he began.

Seaver, who said he had served as Parton’s head of security for more than two decades, described carrying out her wishes as an honor mixed with enormous sadness.

“But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly,” he said. “Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens.” He also reflected on Parton’s influence far beyond her own family.

“Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians, and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent,” Seaver said. “By her example, we believe that anything was possible. She never saw a door she couldn’t open, and the door she opened made and changed history.”

Seaver then shared one particularly intimate request his aunt had made regarding her final rest. “Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest,” he revealed.

Parton’s influence reached far beyond country music, with Barack Obama crediting her for a life that combined entertainment, business, literacy, and philanthropy. He said it was “hard to imagine many people having a bigger impact” than she did. | Source: Getty Images

He concluded, “Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly, Aunt Granny, Gigi. May God bless Dolly Parton, and may God bless you all. She will always love you.” For Cyrus, the news arrived on a date she had already publicly identified as unusually significant in the story of her own life.

Over the years, August 25 has marked a breakup, an explosive career reinvention, one of her most famous songs, her father’s birthday, a deliberately reflective musical release, and now the loss of Dolly Parton.

It is a remarkable collection of coincidences attached to a single square on the calendar. And after Cyrus herself once pointed out just how often August 25 had mattered to her, the date has once again become impossible to overlook.

The news of Parton’s passing immediately sparked an outpouring that crossed political and cultural lines. As Politico reported, Republicans and Democrats alike are mourning the singer, highlighting the universal affection she maintained in an era when even beloved cultural figures can quickly become politically divisive.

Much of that mourning centered not only on Parton’s extraordinary musical career, but also on the philanthropic legacy she quietly built alongside it.

Parton, who rose from poverty in Tennessee, founded the Imagination Library in 1995. The book-gifting program has since delivered more than 200 million free books to babies and young children.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear credited the program with creating “brighter futures for thousands of children across our commonwealth,” saying its legacy will continue “for generations to come.”

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine echoed that sentiment, writing that Parton’s legacy will “live on in the classrooms and communities she uplifted and the beautiful music she created.”

California Republican state Sen. Shannon Grove, who co-authored a bipartisan bill expanding the Imagination Library in California, pointed to something even broader: Parton’s ability to inspire affection across divides. “That’s who she was, and we should all strive to be more like her,” Grove said, praising the star’s “genuine love” for others.

That bipartisan affection is especially striking considering how intentionally Parton had kept herself away from partisan politics.

She previously turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice during Donald Trump’s first administration. Parton later said she also would not accept the honor from Joe Biden because she did not want the gesture to appear political. The reasons behind her earlier refusals, however, were more personal than ideological.

In a previous “Today” show interview, Parton explained, “I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the covid,” she said.

As The Washington Post noted, those offers were not the last time Trump would seek to publicly honor Parton, and after her death, the president went considerably further.

Donald Trump Announces an Extraordinary Tribute

On August 25, Trump posted a deeply personal reaction to Parton’s death, and buried inside it was an announcement that immediately elevated the mourning from celebrity tribute to national observance.

In his Truth Social message, Trump called Parton “one of the greatest Country singers, and far beyond, EVER,” and described her death as “a true loss for millions of people.” “There has never been anyone like her, and never will,” he wrote. Then came the surprise.

Trump announced that he was lowering the American flag throughout the United States in Parton’s honor, saying the one-week period would begin that Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. “Rest in Peace, Dolly! The World loves you,” he concluded, signing the message, “President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

The gesture is not limited to a social media announcement. In an official White House proclamation honoring Parton’s memory, Trump has ordered the U.S. flag to be flown at half-staff at the White House and on public buildings and grounds across the country.

The order also covers all military posts and naval stations, federal naval vessels, U.S. territories and possessions, and facilities abroad.

American flags at embassies, legations, consular offices, military facilities, naval vessels, and stations overseas are also ordered to be lowered. The proclamation specified that the flags will remain at half-staff until sunset on September 1, 2026.

It is a remarkable national tribute for an entertainer who had spent much of her life carefully resisting attempts to turn her into a political symbol. Yet Trump was hardly alone in trying to put into words what Parton’s loss means.

Former presidents, entertainment legends, collaborators, and friends soon began sharing memories of a woman whose reach had stretched far beyond Nashville.

Barack Obama and George W. Bush Remember a Life with an Enormous Impact

Former President Barack Obama focused on the sheer breadth of Parton’s accomplishments. In his tribute on X, Obama wrote that it is “hard to imagine many people having a bigger impact than Dolly Parton.”

He recalled her beginnings in a one-room cabin before listing achievements that extended well beyond the recording studio. Parton, he noted, earned 11 Grammys and an Emmy, built a business empire, helped millions of children learn to read, and played a role in accelerating research that led to the Moderna COVID vaccine.

“What a life,” Obama wrote. He added that he and Michelle Obama are thinking of Parton’s family and her “many, many fans.”

Former President George W. Bush struck a similarly affectionate tone, but his message centered on the woman behind all those achievements. “Laura and I, along with thousands of her fans, mourn the passing of Dolly Parton,” Bush said in a statement shared by the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

“We loved her music and her style. She was a great entertainer and even greater person.” Bush also praised Parton’s work promoting literacy, advancing health, and strengthening communities, calling her a “talented and hardworking American who will be missed.”

The Bush Center paired the statement with a White House photograph featuring Parton alongside the Bushes and other Kennedy Center honorees.

But some of the day’s most emotional words came from those who had known Parton outside the public glare.

Jane Fonda Reveals the Parton Her Friends Knew and Loved

Jane Fonda’s sprawling Instagram tribute began simply: “I am devastated.” Fonda wrote that she had just learned Parton had died and knew that millions are mourning with her. Yet her remembrance quickly became much more intimate.

“Dolly will always be with us because she was so present, so powerful, so generous and playful that she is woven into all our lives and hearts forever,” Fonda declared. She pointed to Parton’s songs, Dollywood, the movie “9 to 5,” the millions of books she put into children’s hands, and the countless iconic images associated with her.

“And they are all blessings,” Fonda said. But it was Fonda’s portrait of Parton away from the stage that offered something fans rarely got to see.

Fonda’s tribute reached back across decades of friendship, remembering Parton as both a mischievous Southern personality and a “deep, soulful thinker.” She also celebrated her as a songwriter, instrumentalist, writer, prankster, visionary, and someone who could make her friends laugh uncontrollably. | Source: Getty Images

She called her friend “simultaneously a naughty, playful southern gal from the hollows of Tennessee and a deep, soulful thinker who could see through people right down to their true selves.”

Fonda described Parton as many things at once: a lyricist, songwriter, instrumentalist, writer, prankster, visionary, and loyal friend. She also remembered someone who was fiercely funny. Parton, Fonda wrote, was a person who would never go to bed before she and her friends had laughed so hard “they’d have to cross their legs.”

Jane Fonda said she is “devastated” by Parton’s death and remembers her as a deeply generous, playful, and fiercely loyal friend. She wrote that Parton’s presence was so powerful that she will remain “woven into all our lives and hearts forever.” | Source: Getty Images

Fonda shared that Parton possessed a “survivor’s instinct” and always seemed to know what to do and what to say to make things right. Then came one of the tribute’s most delightfully unfiltered memories: Fonda recalled Parton sticking her “butt out the car window” and mooning Kenny Rogers’ home.

But beneath the jokes, Fonda saw something deeper. “She was the voluptuous embodiment of empathy,” she wrote, adding, “That’s something of hers she’d want us all to take with us.”

Fonda also made a point of delivering a direct message to Parton’s gay and transgender fans. “I want you to know that she loved you,” she wrote. The actress said Parton loved all of her fans and her religion, telling followers not to mourn her but instead to “Dress up and celebrate her spirit.”