Montana

Miley Cyrus' Hannah Montana Season 1 Salary Revealed

Published

1 year ago

September 26, 2024

Miley Cyrus' Hannah Montana Season 1 Salary Revealed

Miley Cyrus in ‘Hannah Montana’ Disney Channel

Miley Cyrus pulled double duty as Hannah Montana and Miley Stewart on Hannah Montana — but her salary was allegedly lower than both of the actresses who almost got the part.

Cyrus, 31, reportedly made $8,000 per episode for the first season of the Disney Channel show, according to author Ashley Spencer’s new book, Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel’s Tween Empire.

Taylor Momsen and Daniella Monet were the two other finalists for the role. Since both actresses had more “significant past credits” than Cyrus at the time, Momsen and Monet “would have earned $10,000 per episode,” the book claims.

Momsen, now 31, had already played Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas and appeared in several other movies when she read for the TV role. (She landed the part of Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl one year after Hannah Montana premiered.)

Monet, now 35, made her TV debut with a 1997 episode of Pacific Blue and had recurring roles on American Dreams and 8 Simple Rules before starring on Listen Up from 2004 to 2005. When Hannah Montana didn’t work out, Monet became a Nickelodeon star, playing Trina Vega on Victorious from 2010 to 2013.

Cyrus, meanwhile, had only appeared on three episodes of Doc and played a young Ruthie in Big Fish before she read for Hannah Montana. The TV show marked her first lead role and shot her to superstardom.

While Miley’s father, Billy Ray Cyrus, was already a big country star when she started acting, his name didn’t hold weight in her casting. “Miley being Billy Ray’s progeny hadn’t helped her get the part,” casting agent Catherine Stroud revealed in the book, which came out on Tuesday, September 24.

How Much Did Miley Cyrus Make on Hannah Montana Season 1 — Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus in ‘Hannah Montana’ Disney Channel

In fact, it was Miley’s mom, Tish Cyrus, who “floated the idea” of Billy Ray, 63, trying out to play Miley’s onscreen dad.

“Wanting to keep the mother of their new star happy, the network agreed to humor the Cyruses and allowed Billy Ray to read,” Stroud recalled, noting their perception of the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer changed when he arrived at the Burbank studio with his guitar in hand.

Stroud remembered thinking Billy Ray was “so over the top handsome” and couldn’t stop talking about his kids during the audition. “We were dying. It was so endearing,” he explained.

According to the Disney High author, the Hannah Montana team “needed to rewrite Billy Ray’s character so that he had a reason to be home all the time” because he was such a hit with the writers. “His storyline would now be that of a musician who had given up his career to support his daughter’s dreams,” Spencer wrote, adding, “Art would soon imitate life.”

The father-daughter duo starred on Hannah Montana for four seasons before the show ended in 2011. Billy Ray later claimed that his time on the series “destroyed” his whole family. (Tish and Billy Ray share three children, Miley, Noah and Braison. Billy Ray also adopted Tish’s two eldest children, Brandi and Trace, from prior relationships.)

“I’d take it back in a second. For my family to be here and just everybody be OK, safe and sound and happy and normal would have been fantastic,” he told GQ in 2011. “Heck, yeah. I’d erase it all in a second if I could.” (Tish, for her part, made it clear in a “Call Her Daddy” interview earlier this year that she didn’t agree with Billy Ray’s remarks.)

More than a decade after the show wrapped, Billy Ray and Tish, 57, filed for divorce in April 2022. The split was not their first breakup, but both Tish and Billy Ray have since moved on. (Tish married Dominic Purcell in August 2023. Billy Ray wed Firerose in October 2023, but the pair announced their divorce in June.)

Billy Ray and Miley have also had their ups and downs in recent years. Miley unfollowed her father on social media amid his divorce from Tish in 2022. The rift grew when Miley attended her mom’s wedding and seemingly didn’t support Billy Ray’s union with Firerose.

When Miley won Record of the Year at the 2024 Grammys, she didn’t thank her father in her acceptance speech — but she did give a shout-out to her mom.

“He’s almost given me this map, and it’s a map of what to do and what not to do, and he’s guided me on both,” Miley said of Billy Ray during a June appearance on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. “Without my dad, I know … who I am as a person wouldn’t exist. Because my dad as a creative and like, as an artist, and the way his brain works has always made me feel safer in my own mind.”

Despite tension with her father, Miley couldn’t be happier about her time on Hannah Montana and how it has shaped her career. “I stand here still proud to have been Hannah Montana,” Miley said in August after being named the youngest ever “Disney Legend” at D3 2024: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.

“In so many ways, this award is dedicated to Hannah and all of her amazing loyal fans, and to everyone who has made my dream a reality. To quote the legend herself, ‘This is the life,’” Miley added.

Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel’s Tween Empire is out now.

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Montana

Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate

Published

8 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate

Everyone makes mistakes, even experienced professionals; a good reminder for the rest of us to learn from those mistakes. The motion in State v. Stroup starts off well in its initial pages (no case law hallucinations), but is then followed by several pages of two other motions, which I don’t think the lawyer was planning to file, and which appear to have been AI-generated: It begins with the “Below is concise motion language you can drop into …” language quoted above.

Griffen Smith (Missoulian) reported on the story, and included the prosecutor’s motion to strike that filing, on the grounds that it violates a local rule (3(G)) requiring disclosure of the use of generative AI:

The document does not include a generative artificial intelligence disclosure as required. However, page 7 begins as follows: “Below is concise motion language you can drop into a ‘Motion to Admit Mental-Disease Evidence and for Related Instructions’ keyed to 45-6-204, 45-6-201, and 4614-102. Adjust headings/captions to your local practice.” Page 10 states “Below is a full motion you can paste into your pleading, then adjust names, dates, and styles to fit local practice.” These pages also include several apparent hyperlinks to “ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws,” “ppl-ai-fileupload.s3.amazonaws+1,” and others. The document includes what appears to be an attempt at a second case caption on page 12. It is not plausible on its face that any source other than generative AI would have created such language for a filed version of a brief….

There’s more in that filing, but here’s one passage:

While generative AI can be a useful tool for some purposes and may have greater application in the future, when used improperly, and without meaningful review, it can ultimately damage both the perception and the reality of the profession. One assumes that Mr. Stroup has had, or will at some point have, an opportunity to review the filing made on his behalf. What impression could a review of pgs. 12-19 leave upon a defendant who struggles with paranoia and delusional thinking? While AI could theoretically one day become a replacement for portions of staff of experienced attorneys, it is readily apparent that this day has not yet arrived.

The Missoulan article includes this response:

In a Wednesday interview, Office of Public Defender Division Administrator Brian Smith told the Missoulian the AI-generated language was inadvertently included in an unrelated filing. And he criticized the county attorney’s office for filing a “four-page diatribe about the dangers of AI” instead of working with the defense to correct her mistake.
“That’s not helping the client or the case,” Smith said, “and all you are doing is trying to throw a professional colleague under the bus.”

As I mentioned, the lawyer involved seems quite experienced, and ran for the Montana Public Service Commission in 2020 (getting nearly 48% of the vote) and for the House of Representatives in Montana’s first district in 2022 (getting over 46% of the vote) and in 2024 (getting over 44%). “Его пример другим наука,” Pushkin wrote in Eugene Onegin—”May his example profit others,” in the Falen translation.

Thanks to Matthew Monforton for the pointer.

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Montana

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

Published

20 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

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Montana

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.

“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.

It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.

(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”

But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.

“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.

Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.

“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.

The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.

“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.

While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.

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