she's just being miley

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth, an Abridged History

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth.
Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth. Photo: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Congratulations are in order for Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth, and four Instagram posts that collectively netted over 20 million likes in just under 12 hours. Yep, they got married! It’s been a long and winding road for the couple, who met while filming the Nicholas Sparks vehicle The Last Song. They were dating, they were engaged, they were broken up, they were back together, they were survival partners, and now they’re posting pictures with white Vivienne Westwood dresses and Vans-with-a-tux combos.

For the uninitiated, however, The Last Song came out in 2010 — nearly ten years ago. (Miley alluded to the timeline in one of her posts.) At the time, Obama was in the second year of his first term, Ke$ha still had the $ in her name, and Instagram was just a glimmer in a couple of developers’ eyes. The world was different then, and the world is different now. Let us reminisce on the way things were.

2008

The script for The Last Song, which is based on the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name, is completed, per IMDBPro. Taylor Swift auditions for the role of Ronnie, a transplant who has lost her love of music and rediscovers it while staying down South with her dad one summer. Taylor Lautner auditions for the role of Will, the rich hometown hero who falls in love with the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. The roles eventually go to Miley, who is currently starring on Hannah Montana, and Liam, who just lost out on the role of Thor (it went to his big brother, Chris).

The Last Song. Photo: Touchstone/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

2009

Production begins on The Last Song. At some point, Miley and Liam began dating offscreen. Onscreen, Liam had to learn how to play beach volleyball. Modern-day Nicholas Sparks would like to remind you the role he played in bringing #Miam together.

2010

The Last Song premieres in theaters on March 3. (“Imma Be” by the Black Eyed Peas had just unseated Ke$ha’s “TiK ToK” on the Billboard charts.) The film eventually grosses almost $63 million domestically, making it the fourth-most-successful Sparks film. Miley and Liam begin walking red carpets and appear on the cover of Teen Vogue together. “It’s refreshing to work with an actor who isn’t also a singer and dancer and musician and artist and this and that,” Miley told the magazine at the time. “I’m sick of quadruple threats.” Simplicity is key!

2011

The last episode of Hannah Montana premieres on January 16, and Miley bids good-bye to the Disney Channel. Liam begins production on the first Hunger Games movies, in which he plays broody Gale Hawthorne. The two make a few rare red-carpet appearances together.

2011. Photo: Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic

2012

The Hunger Games premieres, adding fuel to the Gale versus Peeta fire and thus beginning Jennifer Lawrence’s relatable reign. Liam tells Details Miley makes him “really happy.” Engagement rumors swirl, and Miley throws people off the scent with a tweet.

Liam officially proposes to Miley on May 31, per People, with a 3.5-karat engagement ring. “I’m so happy to be engaged and look forward to a life of happiness with Liam,” Miley said at the time. She was 19 and he was 22; they would spend the next few months defending their young engagement.

At the “Hunger Games” premiere. Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

2013

Miley and Liam decide to postpone their wedding, and later break up. Miley releases Bangerz in October, thus beginning a post–“We Can’t Stop” world. Miley tells Cosmopolitan, “This is the best time of my life. I’m not going to look back on it and be like, ‘I wish I hadn’t been dwelling over a breakup,’ you know? Because that’s not what God wants my life to be about right now.”

2014

Following rumors that “Wrecking Ball” was written about Liam, Miley issued some very telling comments during a concert in London (i.e., “I’m gonna tell those motherfuckers that broke my heart, particularly one, to suck my fat dick and to enjoy hearing this song for the rest of your life.”). For his part, Liam told NYLON Guys, “There’s not much to say; there’s no bad blood there,” when asked about their relationship. Miley begins dating Patrick Schwarzenegger.

2015

Miley and Patrick break up after five months together. Miley and Stella Maxwell spark dating rumors; Miley later comes out as pansexual, but single. Liam reflects on his past relationship, telling Men’s Fitness, “You fall in love with who you fall in love with; you can never choose. I guess some people just come with a little more baggage. I mean, look — we were together five years, so I don’t think those feelings will ever change. And that’s good because that proves to me that it was real. It wasn’t just a fling.”

Miley dresses as Liam-in-a-TMNT-onesie for Halloween. Liam adopts a dog named Dora, with Miley’s blessing.

2016

#Miam officially reunite, and Miley begins wearing her old engagement ring again. Liam tells GQ Australia, “People will figure it out, they already have … They’re not dumb.”

Miley later debuts a new ring, and tells Ellen DeGeneres that wearing it “is really weird because this is like, real jewelry and most of my jewelry is made out of gummy bears and cotton candy and they don’t look that good together because they kind of mix up. So sometimes I replace it with an actual unicorn or a Looney Tune. And [Liam]’s kind of like, what’s going on? I’m like, ‘This isn’t really my aesthetic, but I’ll wear it because you love me.”

2017

Enter the “Malibu” era. Miley opens up to Billboard about how she and Liam grew in different directions, and had to learn how to “refall” for each other. She releases a song dedicated to Liam, and the California neighborhood where their house is located. The two continue to post glimpses of their relationship to Instagram and Twitter. Miley releases Younger Now; Liam serves as hype man for her album.

2018

Miley and Liam start the year by appearing at a number of Oscars events. Liam begins work on Isn’t It Romantic, a rom-com in which Rebel Wilson wakes up to find herself in the middle of, well, a rom-com. Miley films a Black Mirror guest appearance, and later recounts to Howard Stern how Liam saved their animals before the Woolsey Fire destroyed their home. Over the Christmas weekend, Instagram posts from friends and family hint that the couple may have gotten married in Tennessee; TMZ later obtains a marriage license. Miley recaps the past decade with one succinct caption, and goes on a Twitter-faving spree to well-wishers. Consider the wedding Instagram-official.

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth, an Abridged History