Fears for Miley Cyrus: Friends reveal her battle for sobriety, 'power struggle' with fiancé who gave her the ick... and the tragic timing of Dolly Parton's death as she seeks help

It was a troubling sign for Miley Cyrus. 

What should have been a triumphant return to the stage at the Hollywood Bowl in October after four years away from the spotlight instead brought a blistering backlash for the star. Fans accused Cyrus, 33, of phoning in the performance by not singing every lyric to some of her smash hits.

By the end of the two-night residency, the former Disney darling had pushed back on the criticism - but also made a revealing admission: 'It is hard for me to stand up here and do this show.'

'It does not come as natural as it once did to me before.'

After years of navigating sobriety, painful family feuds and, most recently, the loss of her beloved godmother, country legend Dolly Parton, a source close to the singer has told the Daily Mail that the turmoil runs far deeper than the public knows.

'She's struggling with what comes next,' the source said. 'Miley is at a point in her life where she's really trying to figure out who she is and, more importantly, what she wants to be beyond just being Miley Cyrus, the celebrity.

'Professionally, things haven't been moving in the direction she'd hoped.' 

That may be the understatement of the year.

The Hollywood Bowl shows were meant to be a victory lap for her new album, Bass Persuades - the record that was supposed to kick off her next era.

And for a moment, it looked like a hit: a shock No 1 debut on the Billboard 200, her first chart-topper in more than a decade.

But any celebration would have been short lived, for come week two, it plummeted to No 157 - the biggest fall from the top spot for a female artist in Billboard history.

Ouch.

'Her new music hasn't really taken off the way she wanted,' the insider said.

If the music isn't working, what's a pop star to do? For Cyrus, the answer may lie in the very thing that jumpstarted her career.

'One thing she's been considering is getting back into acting, because she wants the opportunity to show people there's more to her than the Miley Cyrus persona they've known for years,' our insider said. 

On paper, it's not a bad idea. Cyrus was 11 when she first auditioned for the role of Hannah Montana in 2004. By the time the Disney series premiered two years later, the then 13-year-old became an overnight teen idol.

She later hung up her blonde wig and family-friendly sound for more mature lyrics - starting with Wreck Ball, on her 2013 album Bangerz - and, in turn, started landing more grown-up acting roles. 

She starred in the 2010 romantic drama The Last Song, followed by the comedies LOL and So Undercover in 2012, and earned acclaim as fictional pop star Ashley O in a 2019 episode of Netflix's Black Mirror. 

But the on-screen gigs she wants now are proving harder to find, according to our insider, who said she has been left 'frustrated.'

'The problem is the kinds of scripts and roles she's looking for haven't really been coming her way,' the source said. 'She wants something serious, whether it's a film or a television project, that gives her a chance to really act and show a different side of herself.'

'She's still incredibly recognizable and has a built-in audience, but she seems to be at a standstill when it comes to expanding her career. People know her, they know her story, and they have a certain idea of who she is,' the insider added. 'Getting them to look past that and see her as a serious actress or an artist with something deeper to say is a much bigger challenge.'

But a return to touring is no simple fallback.

Cyrus has been open about how hard-won her sobriety is - she quit smoking marijuana in 2017 and drinking in 2020, and has admitted she relapsed and started drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But that history is precisely why she's wary of life on the road.

In 2025, she told Good Morning America she has no 'desire' to go on tour.

'It's really hard to maintain sobriety when you're on the road, which is a really important pillar of stability in my life,' she explained. 'It's really hard to keep mental wellness [on tour].'

And in a separate May 2025 interview, she said that while she's sometimes tempted to make touring arrangements, she knows it's best for her sobriety to abstain from road life.

'I've learned this about myself over the years,' she said at the time. 'The sobriety is like, that's like my God. I need it, I live for it. I mean that it's changed my entire life.'

Work, then, is complicated. So is her personal life.

The Cyrus family drama needs little introduction: things came to a head in 2024 when her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, 65, was heard calling Cyrus a 'skank' and a 'liar' in an expletive-filled audio tirade obtained exclusively by the Daily Mail. That year, Cyrus failed to mention Billy Ray in her 2024 Grammys acceptance speech.

The firestorm came amid claims that her mother, Tish, 59, had 'stolen' actor Dominic Purcell from her 26-year-old daughter Noah. Tish married Purcell in an August 2023 ceremony at Cyrus' Malibu home, where Noah was noticeably absent.

By June 2025, however, it seemed there was a thaw in the once-cold family relations, with Cyrus saying that she was 'best friends' with her mom, and that she had found better footing with her dad.

'Now, in my 30s, family is my priority above all else. I'm at peace knowing bridges have been built and time has done a lot of healing,' Cyrus wrote on Instagram.

Reconciliation, however, is not the only change she is navigating, according to our source.

'She's also watching people around her move into new chapters of their lives,' they said.

Billy Ray, they said, is 'moving toward marriage' with actress Elizabeth Hurley, 61, after their October engagement, 'and that probably adds to the feeling that everyone else is figuring things out while she's still trying to find her footing.'

Cyrus has a new chapter of her own: she became engaged to musician Maxx Morando, 27, in 2025 after dating for nearly five years. 

The romance comes after her high-profile, on-again, off-again relationship and eight-month marriage to actor Liam Hemsworth, and short-lived relationships with blogger and former reality star Kaitlynn Carter as well as singer Cody Simpson.

But even her love life, it seems, is not entirely settled.

'She has a power struggle with Maxx because she is bossy and he puts his foot down,' another insider close to Cyrus told the Daily Mail. 

'She let her fans know that she is annoyed with Maxx at times. She recently told [podcast host] Zane Lowe that he has given her the "ick" and she ordered him to not do that again.

'Part of the problem is she is six years older so she acts like she knows it all. Hopefully they find a way to evolve so their marriage can last.'

But the darkest cloud hanging over Cyrus is the is the loss of Parton, who died aged 80 in August this year.

Cyrus honored the late country legend during her Hollywood Bowl show with a tearful performance of Jolene, telling the crowd that the venue was the only place she ever saw Parton perform live.

Parton, who never had children, was a fixture in Cyrus' life from the start - appearing on Hannah Montana, collaborating with her goddaughter on numerous music projects and covering Cyrus's 2013 hit Wrecking Ball on her 2023 album Rockstar.

Parton previously opened up about how she came to be Cyrus' godmother, telling ABC News in 2009: 'Her father's a friend of mine, and when she was born, he said, "You just have to be her godmother," and I said, "I accept."'

And, according to one source, Cyrus is now missing that bond.

'Dolly was someone she could turn to for advice, and not having her around has been really difficult,' they said. 'She's at a stage where she needs that kind of guidance, but she's also trying to find those answers on her own.'

And so the singer who has reinvented herself more times than most people change hairstyles, finds herself at a genuine crossroads.

'She wants to build something meaningful that lasts,' said our first insider. 'And right now, she's trying to figure out how to get people to give her the chance to prove she can.'

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Cyrus for comment.