Hannah Montana Star Miley Cyrus Still Hearts Hilary Duff

Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus had two different career paths she could have chosen early on.

There’s the highly sexualized “not that innocent” pop star route, a la ex-Disney star Britney Spears. And then there’s the good girl direction, like pop sensation Hilary Duff, who started off on the same channel.

Cyrus chose path number two, and between her CD sales, Hannah Montana viewership, and now box office receipts, it’s worked out quite well for Miley. And even with the level of fame she has achieved, she still has the humility to say that Ms. Duff helped paved the way for her.

When asked about whether she still looks up to Hilary, she had nothing but praise to say in a recent interview with MTV News.

“Yeah, because she’s on Disney, or was on Disney Channel, and she’s kind of set the way for all of us, not only just in a business sense, but [by] saying that it is OK to be a good girl. Like, that’s cool! It’s kind of just given us all inspiration to go out. Whether it was her or not, I would definitely be doing what I’m doing, but she definitely made it more acceptable,” Cyrus gushed.

Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert has not only been overperforming at the box office, but also has an 84% fresh rating with the critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Not a bad way to start 2008 for a person who only recently turned 15.