Miley Cyrus was an on-air guest this morning on Ryan Seacrest‘s radio show on KIIS FM here in SoCal and, for the first time, went on the record about her relationship with hottie underwear model Justin Gaston. Altho, the 15-year old poplet tried to play it coy about any romantic relationship she might be enjoying with the 20-year old model, she did offer some telling comments about what the man means to her:

“Maybe, maybe not,” she said Thursday on Ryan Seacrest’s KIIS-FM radio show when asked if they are dating. “Right now, everything is, like, really good. I haven’t really been answering the question much just because we’re just really happy with everything and the way everything has worked out.” She added, “He’s been a really great friend, more than anything.” Cyrus – who turns 16 on Nov. 23 – said she was miffed that “everyone started judging us as soon as we started hanging out.” “After my last two years, there’s been a lot of things that happened, so I’ve learned just not to judge anyone and go into our friendship with an open mind and not really worry about the age or anything,” she continued. “Our families are like, ‘Whatever happens, happens,’” she said. “If he’s nothing but a really good friend, that’s awesome. More than anything, he’s really helped me move on from a lot of things,” she told Seacrest. “He’s a really great Christian guy. He’s gone through stuff, and I’ve gone through stuff, and everyone goes through that. I think it’s really awesome that we have that in common — that we can talk about it and that we can understand [each other] … he gets it.” She then added: “I’m totally gushing right now!” She said her parents like him too, adding that the former Nashville Star contestant “works with my dad, so my dad thinks he’s cool.” Seacrest told Cyrus that Gaston is just too good looking. “That’s what would be hard about dating him!” she replied. “It’s like, if anything ever happened [a break-up], who you are gonna go to after that?”

While there may have been some “judging” going on as soon as Miley started “hanging out” with Justin, I think it was more of a matter of people being surprised that her parents would let a 15-year old girl “hang out” with a 20-year old man — in any capacity. In light of the big stink the Cyrus parents caused after the Vanity Fair debacle earlier this year, I, for one, was really surprised to see them be so nonchalant about the age disparity between their daughter and this older man. I’m not sure that the “whatever happens, happens” mentality is a very good one for families to implement when it comes to underage girls “hanging out” with adult men. But, that’s just my opinion … clearly these people must know what they are doing. I do give Miss Miley credit for being honest and talking somewhat openly about the situation. If y’all are interested, you can click HERE to hear Miley‘s interview with Ryan Seacrest in full online. BTW, I’m not sure what is going on with Miley‘s voice in this interview but doesn’t she sound like she smoked about 4 packs of cigs right before she called in? Husky!

[Photo credit: INFdaily; Source, Source]