Miley Cyrus made a fiery red carpet appearance at the Avatar: Fire and Ash world premiere with boyfriend Maxx Morando — and the duo sparked speculation that they’ve taken the next step in their relationship.
Cyrus, 33, cozied up to Morando on the red carpet at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Monday, December 1, wearing a sparkly black mermaid dress. Morando, 27, wore a black suit and a white shirt for the premiere.
Cyrus’ choice of jewelry, however, is what caused the most commotion, as she wore what appeared to be a diamond ring on her left ring finger.
The singer and actress joined visionary director James Cameron and the Avatar cast — which includes Zoe Saldaña and Sigourney Weaver — on the red carpet Monday night due to her own involvement in the film. Cyrus provides the vocals for the movie’s lead soundtrack song, “Dream as One.”
“Honored to support Avatar: Fire and Ash with an original song I’ve written with Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt,” Cyrus wrote in an Instagram post in October announcing the song. “Having been personally affected by fire and being rebuilt from the ashes, this project holds profound meaning for me. Thank you, Jim, for the opportunity to turn that experience into musical medicine. The film’s themes of unity, healing, and love resonate deeply within my soul, and to be even a small star in the universe the Avatar family has created is truly a dream come true.”
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Cyrus and Morando, meanwhile, were first linked in late 2021 and have been going strong ever since, though they have largely kept their romance out of the spotlight.
Earlier this year, Cyrus joked about the couple’s nearly six-year age gap during an appearance on the “Sorry We’re Cyrus” podcast.
“He will be 27 when I turn 33, which I’m so excited for him to turn 27 ‘cause that was such a great year for me,” Cyrus said in June.
“I’m just hoping that, as long as he follows in my footsteps, everything is going to be great,” she continued to joke. “That’s right when I started turning my life around.”
Cyrus said that the couple’s chemistry owes itself, in part, to their compatible star signs.
“He’s a Scorpio and so is his grandfather, that’s what makes Maxx just so cool because he can sting. Like, [Scorpios are] very cool, think that they’re little angels, until it turns around and they got a sting,” she said. “I couldn’t be with someone [who] doesn’t sting. They would have been toast already.”
Cyrus also opened up about their age difference in a November 2024 interview with Harper’s Bazaar.
“He looks at life really differently than I do,” she said at the time. “Honestly, he’s raised our dog off Reddit. I’m like, ‘Are you sure we’re supposed to be doing this?’ And he’s like, ‘On Reddit it says blah, blah, blah.’”
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“He’s very similar to me. We just don’t take life too seriously,” she added of Morando, who is drummer for the rock band Liily.
In September 2024, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that Morando had not only won Cyrus’ heart, but also won over her family members, including mom Tish Cyrus.
“[Miley’s mom] Tish [Cyrus] adores him and thinks they complement each other perfectly,” the insider said.
“Miley is fully content with where her life is,” the source added. “She’s in love with Maxx and feels so fulfilled with her family and career.”
