Millennials and “Zillennials” didn’t know how good they had it when they watched Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez’s feud play out in real-time during their peak Disney days. The then-teens posted shady YouTube videos (before you could subtweet) and even refused to film crossover episodes together. And it was all because of one curly-haired boy-bander: Nick Jonas.
Selena’s Wizards of Waverly Place costar Jennifer Stone spilled BTS tea during the Monday, July 29, episode of the “Wizards of Waverly Pod” podcast alongside the Russo family patriarch David DeLuise. Jennifer, now 31, claimed that Selena, 32, and Miley’s beef was so intense that they didn’t appear in the same scenes together during the major Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana crossover in 2009.
“It was, like, high school. Like, they both dated Nick,” Jennifer recalled. “I think Miley dated him first and then Selena dated him, and then it was just messy high school nonsense.” However, she noted that the “high school BS” is in the past, and both Miley and Selena are “fine now. They’re all good now.”
During this dramatic period, Miley, Nick, and Selena formed a notorious tween love triangle. The “Flowers” singer and the youngest Jonas Brother were an item between 2006 and December 2007, collaborating on various projects, including a memorable episode of Hannah Montana.
In 2007, the Jonas Brothers opened for Miley during her Best of Both Worlds tour and even appeared in an episode titled “Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas.” However, by 2008, Nick moved on from Miley to Selena, leading to brief romance throughout that year. Meanwhile, Miley expressed her feelings through her empowering rage anthem “7 Things,” released in June 2008.
“The seven things I hate about you / Oh, you / You’re vain, your games, you’re insecure / You love me, you like her,” Miley sings, referring to Selena directly. “You made me laugh, you made me cry, I don’t know which side to buy.”
In her memoir, Miles to Go, Miley later reflected on her feelings while writing the song, calling Nick her “Prince Charming.” She explained, “I was angry when I wrote ‘7 Things.’ I wanted to punish him for hurting me. But deep down, I knew it was going to turn into a love song.”
Years later, during a 2018 interview, Nick revealed that he knew the song was about him. “I’ve never directly heard that from Miley, but she does wear a dog tag that I gave her when I was 14 [in the music video],” he said. “I was actually kind of flattered to be honest because it’s there forever.”
Furthermore, some fans may remember the on-screen interactions between Miley and Selena. During Hannah Montana season 2, Selena portrayed Hannah’s pop star rival Mikayla Skeech in the episode “I Want You to Want Me…to Go to Florida.”
Today, Miley and Selena share a positive relationship. Selena even mentioned Miley during her 2022 monologue while hosting Saturday Night Live, humorously recalling their friendship with the line, “One of my oldest friends, Miley Cyrus, said ‘Just be yourself and have fun.’”
