Miley Cyrus Defends Engagement: Life is Too Short...

Miley Cyrus is aware of the criticism.

She knows she's only 19 and, as a result, has become the butt of even well-intentioned, harmless jokes (see Dobrev, Nina). But the singer opens up to Marie Claire this month and explains why she's agreed to marry Liam Hemsworth.

Simply put: "Life is too short not to be with the person you want to be with," Cyrus says.

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What does Miley value? Aside from an ever-growing collection of Twit pics? Not an expensive dress, not a particular wedding band, not a type of champagne to pop on the big night.

"I don't really care about the wedding or the piece of paper as much as I do the promise we've made to each other," she says. "And we want to have a long engagement."

Miley also talks about the proposal itself, saying it took place at the couple's Los Angeles home and was a "complete surprise." The same holds true for the Neil Lane ring that now sits on her finger.

"I had no input," Cyrus says of the piece of jewelery. "We'd been kind of talking about getting engaged... I saw it online at one point and thought it was really pretty. I just love that it's old and has a story. And I'm happy because it doesn't look like anything else I wear."