Singer/actress Miley Cyrus has denied her famous father Billy Ray Cyrus helped her to land a role in her hit Disney TV show Hannah Montana – insisting she was the one to win the country star a part in the program. The 15-year-old shot to global fame when she was hired to play the closet pop star in the show – and she has gone on to sell out stadiums across the U.S. as part of her Best of Both Worlds tour.

But the teenager is sure her dad, who also plays her parent on-screen, did not influence the program-makers’ decision to hire her. She says, “I auditioned forever. At first Disney said I was too small and too young. I was 11. Anyway, I went back a year later and when they still hadn’t found anybody and I got the part. After that my dad went for the role of my on-screen dad. I had to audition him which was really weird.”

WENN