Miley Cyrus is speaking out in the name of body art. The Hannah Montana star, who turned 17 in November, had the words “Just Breathe” etched below her heart in her mother’s handwriting last year. The first snaps of the ink sparked debate between fans of the starlet and their parents, particularly since several U.S. states forbid those under the age of 18 from getting inked.
For her part, Miles insists she didn’t get the tattoo on a whim; it’s a tribute to a dear friend who died of cystic fibrosis in 2007, and her grandfathers who both succumbed to lung cancer, says the star. The once clean-cut and often controversial singer/actress hardly felt the pain of the needle as she had her first tattoo inked because she was concentrating on the people who inspired it in the first place.
“It really doesn’t hurt if you’re thinking about the meaning. I could never get a meaningless tattoo, but I think that if you’re doing something that’s important, that’s significant in your life, it takes some of the pain away,” she tells the February issue of Harper’s Bazaar. “It reminds me not to take things for granted. I mean breathing – that was something none of them could do, the most basic thing. And I put it near my heart, because that is where they will always be.”