Miley Cyrus once donned a wig in an attempt to go undercover like her onscreen alter ego Hannah Montana - but her plan was foiled when she set her hair on fire.

The Disney star shot to fame on her hit Disney TV series, in which she plays Hannah Montana, a pop star who wears a wig onstage to conceal her true identity as school student Miley Stewart. Cyrus attempted a similar stunt to go unnoticed by her fans - but her efforts failed when she used a straightening iron on the hairpiece.

She tells British talk show This Morning, "I had the idea (to go out in disguise) so I got a wig and it was really short, a tomboy cut, and I decided to straighten it. I'm sitting down and all of a sudden I start smelling smoke. I thought, 'What is that?' The wig is literally catching on fire because I didn't know it was a cheap wig. And I thought, 'This isn't going to work for me.' So it doesn't work in real life but it works on the show!"

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(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)