Kaitlynn Carter Got Super Real About Falling In Love With Miley Cyrus

If you had internet access during the summer of 2019, there's a very high chance you heard about a certain pop star's extremely public, PDA-packed romance with a certain reality star. Now, Kaitlynn Carter's essay about falling in love with Miley Cyrus, published on Nov. 4 on Elle, reportedly sheds new light on the highly publicized relationship. While Carter doesn't mention Cyrus by name, based on the details mentioned throughout the essay, it seems likely that she's describing their time together.

Carter's essay opens with a nod to how quickly the relationship developed: "This past July, I went on vacation with a female friend; the next thing I knew, I was in love with her," she wrote. This likely refers to the Italian vacation Cyrus and Carter took together following their respective splits from Liam Hemsworth and Brody Jenner. It was during that same trip that the public got tipped off to their romance when the two were reportedly photographed making out poolside in Lake Como.

"Until that trip, it had never crossed my mind that I was even capable of loving a woman the way I loved her," Carter wrote, adding that reflecting on their relationship made her realize she never "really had a 'type.'"

Carter explained that their romance evolved naturally. "I didn’t have to think about a thing or overanalyze. It just happened and it felt exactly right," she wrote. "Reflecting back on our three-year friendship, I realized I’d always been drawn to her in a way I wasn’t with other friends, but until that trip it had never crossed my mind to think of her in a romantic sense."

While that relationship is now reportedly over, the reality star has nothing but love left for her pop star ex. "While it was short-lived, I’ll remain eternally grateful to my most recent relationship for opening my eyes to this unexplored part of myself, and for inspiring a new level of self-discovery and wonder at all the possibilities of life," she wrote. "I’ve been forced to get to know myself in a far deeper way than ever before, and not just in terms of my sexual preferences. I’ve also been forced to reckon with who I am as a person."

Carter concluded her essay by highlighting the fact that her relationship with Cyrus had more depth than people might have guessed. "Although the relationship with my friend was often referenced in the media as merely a 'summer fling' or a 'same-sex affair,' it was so much more than that," she wrote. "This was a profound journey of self-discovery. For the first time, I listened to myself, forgot about the 'norm,' and lived. I hope that everyone, when given the chance, takes the time to understand who exactly their most authentic selves are, untethered from what we may have been taught to believe. Remain curious. Know that there are many layers within you—and they just might be the most invaluable ones."

If nothing else, let's take Carter's story as inspiration that truly great things happen when we decide to live the most authentic version of our lives.