I’ll be honest. The whole Miley Cyrus phenomenon makes me a little nervous. Not even Hilary Duff at the height of her “Lizzie Maguire” fame was invited to present at the Oscars and do a sit down with Barbara Walters, but the “Hannah Montana” star was–to the chagrin of some critics. Yes,the adorable, smiley Miley seems all too aware that at least half of Hollywood is waiting for her to follow the path of Lohan, Spears, and all the other falling starlets in her peer group. It is assumed it is a matter of time before Cyrus’ good girl image unravels. Which is why I can’t help but root for her to stay the course, especially after watching her talk with Walters on Walters’ perennial Oscar special.

In the interview, Cyrus pointed to not only her to her family, but to the Christian beliefs she has been raised with as the reason she believes she will avoid some of the pitfalls of superstardom. When Walters brought up– as every other interviewer has–that Miley’s actual name is Destiny Hope, unlike the dozens of other times she’s answered the question with an eye roll, shrugging off the possible significance of the name, Cyrus explained what she sees as her divine purpose. She told Walters that she believe she is to be a light to these other girls trapped in the tabloid frenzy and to show them there can be a different way to live in the limelight
Speaking as someone who was once a Christian girl at 15 and my biggest goal was, well, I don’t know, trying to get the cool guy in youth group to date me and not my best friend, I worry that Miley seems to think she should try to shoulder the burden of generations of celebrity dysfunction. At the same time, the calm maturity she displayed in her conversation makes me wonder if her destiny really is to be God’s agent of grace to a unique group of celebrity souls in need.