Chappell Roan delivered one of the most emotional moments of the Hannah Montana 20th anniversary special, telling Miley Cyrus, “you literally walked so I could run.” The exchange, featured in the hour-long special that premiered March 24, 2026 on Disney+ and Hulu, quickly emerged as the defining highlight of the celebration.
Appearing as a self-professed longtime fan, Roan reflected on the influence of Cyrus’ post-Disney reinvention on a new generation of performers. “What I do on stage [or] go on a red carpet and just be…” she began, before Cyrus responded, “Oh I always gag for that.” Roan then made the connection explicit, adding, “But that’s because you took a lot of heat for that in like 2012, 2013, like I don’t have to deal with that as much because the world took it out on you.”
The moment lands with particular weight given the context of Cyrus’ Bangerz era, when her shift away from the Hannah Montana image sparked widespread backlash. Performances, including her headline-making appearance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, drew intense scrutiny and framed her as a symbol of the “Disney star gone wild” narrative that dominated media coverage at the time.
Throughout the special, Cyrus revisits that duality between past and present. Filmed on the original Disney Channel set, the program features reunions with Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Cyrus, alongside a guest appearance from Selena Gomez, who reprised her role as Mikayla. Updated performances of “The Best of Both Worlds” and “The Climb” anchor the retrospective, while a newly debuted track ties the legacy of the series to Cyrus’ current artistic direction.
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