Miley Cyrus stopped going to church after watching her friends go through traumatising conversion therapy
Miley Cyrus. (Presley Ann/WireImage)
Miley Cyrus has revealed that she stopped going to church when she was growing up after seeing her gay friends put through conversion therapy.
The 27-year-old pop star made the comments on an episode of Bright Minded on March 20, which was broadcast on her Instagram live.
The pansexual singer said she had a “hard time” figuring out her own religious views due to anti-LGBT+ sentiment within Christian churches.
“I was also brought up in the church in Tennessee at a time in the 90s, so it was a less accepting time with all that,” Cyrus said.
Miley Cyrus left her church because her gay friends ‘weren’t being accepted’.
“I had some gay friends in school. The reason why I left my church is that they weren’t being accepted,” she explained.
Cyrus continued: “They were being sent to conversion therapies. And I had a really hard time with that and I had a hard time with me finding my sexuality too.”
I had some gay friends in school. That is the reason why I left my church is that they weren’t being accepted.
“So I think now you telling me that I’m allowed to redesign my relationship with God as an adult and make it how it feels most accepting to me would make me feel so less turned off by spirituality.”
Cyrus revealed in 2015 that she had dated both men and women, and later that year said she is pansexual.
The pop star has dated both men and women and identifies as pansexual.
In an interview with Elle magazine, she said: “I’m very open about it – I’m pansexual.
“There are times in my life where I’ve had boyfriends or girlfriends. And there are times where I just love being with myself and don’t want to give part of myself away to someone else.”
The pop star previously said: “A big part of my pride and my identity is being a queer person. What I preach is: People fall in love with people, not gender, not looks, not whatever. What I’m in love with exists on almost a spiritual level.”
In a recent Instagram live conversation with her friend Demi Lovato, who is bisexual, Cyrus suggested they bonded as teenagers because they are “gay as f**k”.
Last year, Cyrus separated from actor Liam Hemsworth after eight months of marriage.
