10 things you probably didn't know about 'Hannah Montana'

During an appearance on "Friday Night With Jonathan Ross" in 2009 Cyrus said that she began auditioning for the show at 11 years old.

The casting directors asked her to read for Hannah Montana, which she did, but they thought she was too young for the role.

She ended up landing the role anyway and by the time the show premiered in early 2006, Cyrus was 13 years old. Meanwhile, Emily Osment portrayed Lilly.

At the time, Momsen was known for roles in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams."

They both auditioned for the titular role and in her 2009 book titled "Miles to Go," Cyrus described Momsen as "gorgeous, with long, blond hair."

Cyrus detailed their dynamic, which stemmed from feeling insecure and competitive, in "Miles to Go."

"For two seasons of 'Hannah Montana,' Emily and I had struggled to get along," the singer wrote.

Cyrus said that she was "intimidated" by Osment and some of her other costars when she first joined the show because they had prior acting experience.

And although she and Mitchel Musso (Oliver Oken) became best friends instantly, the actress didn't see eye to eye with Osment, who she described as "more reserved."

"Also, she's beautiful and athletic," Cyrus wrote. "There was competition between us — girls struggle with that, and we were no exception. I didn't do much to fix it. I mean, I wanted to, but I had no idea how to go about fixing it. I never got along with girls as well as I did with guys."

In her autobiography, Cyrus said that they "tried to be friends, we really did, but it always ended in a fight." The disagreements were often witnessed by the cast crew, and after one specific argument, their families had to intervene.

By the time they went back to the set to film season three of "Hannah Montana," Cyrus said that "something had changed" and they finally became friends.

"It took us a while to get into a groove — we both needed to learn how to be sensitive to each other," Cyrus said.

"I think somewhere in the course of trying to keep the peace and act like friends, it sort of became true. It felt natural. And once it was natural, well, things were just peaceful," she added.

For example, the season three episode titled "Don't Go Breakin' My Tooth" was inspired by Elton John and Kiki Dee's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart."

Meanwhile, a season four episode titled "It's the End of the Jake as We Know It" was a play on R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)."

"Hannah Montana" was filmed on a set, but the transitions included shots of a beachfront home. Fans who watched HBO's "Big Little Lies" will notice that it's the same house that Reese Witherspoon's character (Madeline) lives in.

Cyrus shared the fun fact with Witherspoon during an episode of her Instagram live show "Bright Minded" in March 2020, and the "BLL" actress was astonished to learn of the coincidence.

"I don't know if you knew that Madeline Martha Mackenzie and Hannah Montana lived in the same house, maybe even at the same time," Cyrus said. "So there might be a plot twist here that you actually had a roommate — that you lived with Hannah Montana."

"I just wanted to be on TV," the singer told Elle in a 2016 cover story. "I mean, at one point — they'll probably kill me for saying it — I was probably the least paid person on my ['Hannah Montana'] cast because I didn't know any better."

"My mom started understanding how many people take advantage of a child, so she hired smart people to protect me in that way," she said. "I'm happy that when I was younger, people protected me and put me in a position where I can now control my music."

"I'll tell you right now — the damn show destroyed my family," he told GQ in 2011 while discussing the challenges that his family faced once they became part of the entertainment industry.

When asked if he wished the show never happened, Billy Ray said: "I hate to say it, but yes, I do. Yeah. I'd take it back in a second. For my family to be here and just be everybody OK, safe and sound and happy and normal, would have been fantastic. Heck, yeah. I'd erase it all in a second if I could."

"There was a ping pong table on set, so Emily and I bonded over ping pong games," Linley told Teen Vogue. "Whenever Miley or anyone else was doing scenes, we would battle one another in ping pong."

At the start of the series, Miley was introduced as an 8th grader while Jackson was a high school student.

In real life, Cyrus was born in 1992 and Earles was born in 1977.

On the series finale, the friends went on separate paths, as Miley headed to Paris to film a movie while Lilly went to Stanford. But at the end of the episode, Miley showed up at Lilly's dorm and said that going to college with her best friend was more important than any Hollywood opportunity.

"I love you so much," Miley said as they hugged.

In response, Lilly said, "I know."

"I ad-libbed that so I could have the last line of the whole series," Osment revealed on Twitter in 2017.