Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth are together, again, still.

The two were papped at lunch yesterday in Toluca Lake. Here, let me say it: I like them together. A lot.

And why?

First of all I think it’s too easy now to be all like, wah wah wah, I hate her, she’s so irritating. It’s done. And, secondly, it doesn’t apply anymore.

Miley, it appears, has redirected. She was in my face, in your face, too much, so much; her beat-me mouth, her jail-baiting, her Cyrus-ness, all the time, everywhere. There was a significant amount of Miley hate on this site for a long time. And then, over the last year, she pulled back. She pulled back deliberately. Naively then, I’ll say it was an astute temperature check. Stupidly perhaps, I’ll give her credit for that. There are weeks now that go by without a Miley sighting, without a Miley headline. That not only works for me, I think it works for her. It’s not that I miss her - let’s not get ahead of ourselves - but she gave me an opportunity to re-examine her.

There has been a lot of sh-t that has happened to Miley over the last while. Her parents are crazy, her career, it may have stagnated, her transition from Disney to Adult, it may not have been so smooth. Maybe because she was never allowed to actually accomplish that, and as such, we were never allowed to actually observe it.

In receding then, hopefully, it was to regroup, to reassess. Herself. Her strategy. How can you call this a bad move? It’s a move a lot of people are afraid to make.

The result? I can tell you that I’m less annoyed with Miley than I used to be. That I find her less annoying. Even close to not annoying at all.

In that time, clearly, she and Liam have been trying to figure out what it is between them. Imagine that. A real celebrity relationship that is attempting to exist behind the scenes. Consider this: that the ultra-private Leonardo DiCaprio has been photographed more often with Blake Lively this summer than Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth. And don’t come at me with Leo is more famous and makes more money.

Miley prints. That’s a fact. Miley photos are consistent money earners. The paps didn’t decide one day NOT to go looking for Miley. You think they stopped looking for Miley because they’d rather sit outside Ashley Greene’s gym all day??? Please. They didn’t stop looking for Miley. They just couldn’t find her.

I’ll give her then that yesterday - these shots are exclusive to one agency only - was an accident. For now, I think she’s earned it.


Photos from GSI