Miley Cyrus Admits Marriage Might Not Have Happened If Not for Malibu Fire

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth may never have walked down the aisle if it weren’t for the loss of their Malibu home during the Woolsey Fire just a month before their wedding.

In both a personal essay and an interview with Vanity Fair, the magazine for which she covers the March issue, the “Malibu” singer opened up about her relationship with Hemsworth and the impact the loss of their California home had on them.

“I’m not sure without losing Malibu, we would’ve been ready to take this step or ever even gotten married, who can say?” she wrote. “But the timing felt right and I go with my heart. No one is promised the next day, or the next, so I try to be ‘in the now’ as much as possible.”

The home had played an important role in the couple’s relationship, making its loss even more devastating. As Cyrus noted, she had written her first record as Miley Cyrus, not Hannah Montana, in the home, and years later, during a break in their relationship, Hemsworth purchased the Malibu home without knowing its connection to Cyrus.

“And then [Liam] shows up, ready to move in. And the old owners are cleaning out the garage and getting out all these plaques and s– with my face on it. Liam showed up and was like, ‘What the f–?” Cyrus recalled.

In the years that followed the purchase and the couple’s re-ignited romance, they filled the home not with “expensive, meaningless s–,” but with memories and art.

While the couple had managed to save their animals from the fire, their home was engulfed in flames just like hundreds of others throughout the state of California, and by the time they were able to return, the only thing that remained was a large sign reading “Love,” its letters charred by the flames.

Through the “heartbreaking” loss, Cyrus and Hemsworth managed to find “a new bond underneath all that rubble.”

“When you experience what we experienced together with someone, it is like glue,” Cyrus explained. “You’re the only two people in the world who can understand.”

“Going through a natural disaster, the grief you experience is really unlike any other loss. No more, just different,” she added. “In our position it feels or looks like everything is replaceable and you can start again, but you can’t buy spirit.”

The couple, who first met on the set of The Last Song in 2012 and began dating soon after, eventually breaking off their engagement in 2013 before getting back together, married in mid-December at Cyrus’ home in Franklin, Tennessee, where a marriage license was issued.