Miley Cyrus and Sabrina Carpenter are both successful pop stars, but they have more than just the current state of their careers in common. Cyrus and Carpenter both found early success as child stars on Disney Channel. Cyrus has spoken about how child stardom has impacted her life, and she admits to feeling a level of concern for other child stars. She said she worries about Carpenter because of the relentless pace of her career.

Miley Cyrus said she feels concern for other child stars like Sabrina Carpenter

Cyrus has been able to transition from her role as Hannah Montana into a career as an adult. She said she has been able to manage this transition through therapy, and recommends it for every other former child star.

“Ariana [Grande] says there should be therapy for child actors, and I totally agree,” she told The New York Times Magazine. “There should be a weekly check-in. I’ve been doing very consistent therapy since I was 17 or 18 years old, so I think I’ve cleared up a lot of the feelings that I had about being a child star, and now I don’t notice it so much because I don’t notice it in me.”

She said she takes note of other former child stars who are working at breakneck pace. She pointed to Carpenter as an example. Carpenter’s career has exploded since she debuted “Espresso” in 2024. She became the first artist since The Beatles to chart her first three top-five hits on the Hot 100 at the same time.

“I guess the only thing I notice is when people are working too hard,” Cyrus said. “I met Sabrina Carpenter a couple of times, and every time I see her I have the urge to ask her if she’s OK. I’ll see she’s performing in Ireland, and then the next day she’s doing a show in Kansas. And I’m like, ‘I don’t know how that could be physically OK,’ because I was in that situation. I know what it feels like to fry yourself, and I don’t want anyone else to get fried.”

She said being a child star shaped who she is

Cyrus believes that childhood stardom has profoundly impacted her development. 

“Obviously, [being a child star] shaped me into a very different adult than some of my peers or my friends. It is just a really different childhood to have,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “For a while, I thought it got in the way of me connecting with people.”

She also said that people treat her differently than others because of her childhood. It makes it slightly more difficult to form connections.

“I feel like I can connect to people and I feel like I’m a friend to all,” she said. “But because of how I’ve grown up, sometimes people make it harder. I can drop my persona really easily, but it’s hard for other people to erase that part of you.”

Sabrina Carpenter felt star-struck when she met Miley Cyrus

Carpenter has been a fan of Cyrus since the early days of her career. She recalled meeting her as a child and being grateful for how kind Cyrus was.

“When I was ten years [old] it was Miley Cyrus,” Carpenter said (per Marie Claire). “I was wearing a fedora when I met her and I regret it entirely. She had a cold but she was super sweet to me when I met her and I’ll never forget that.”

They reunited at the Grammys in 2025.