Why Miley Cyrus doesn’t call Liam Hemsworth her “fiancé” after the Malibu fires consumed their home

Last we checked, Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth were engaged. In a new interview with Howard Stern (via Elle.com), Cyrus admitted that she doesn’t like to call Hemsworth her fiancé, but has a better term of endearment. Cyrus was away filming an episode of Netflix’s Black Mirror in South Africa (though she would only confirm that news with a head nod) while the Malibu fires devastated her and Hemsworth’s home. During the fire, Hemsworth single-handedly saved all their animals (seven dogs, four horses, two pigs, and three cats), which inspired Cyrus to give him a better name than fiancé.

When Stern asked if Hemsworth was her boyfriend or fiancé, Cyrus responded: “Yeah, kind of-ish. [He’s] my partner, I call him my survival partner now. He thinks it’s not romantic, but I learned that it is. That is why you pair up with someone, for survival, and he was so incredible. He got all the animals out in his truck.”

Fucking LOVE you @HowardStern @sternshow
Replaying all day on Howard 💯 pic.twitter.com/vJoirriBFv

— Miley Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) December 12, 2018

Cyrus said she’s “never loved him more for this,” and joked that “he got a lot of action for saving the animals…we had to make sure he knew I was very, very grateful.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bqiv6O2HhJc

Since the fires, Cyrus said they aren’t ready to return to Malibu and have been living in Nashville.

"I think the hardest thing for both of us right now is to go back," she explained. "A lot of people are starting to get back to their homes, people that didn’t lose their homes, but Malibu isn’t the same for right now. The air quality, the water, he surfs everyday..."

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQhHKtmFt57

These two have been together for years, survived a breakup, dealt with a fire, and raised a ton of animals together—so yeah, survival partner seems much more accurate.