Miley Cyrus on Marie Claire September issue (Photo : Marie Claire)

Miley Cyrus' early engagement to Liam Hemsworth may have been criticized as thoughtless, but the 19-year-old starlet claims that she knows what she's doing.

Miley Cyrus graced the cover of Marie Claire's September issue, sporting a teal Christian Dior dress, encrusted with jewels and emeralds.

The "Hannah Montana" star then opened up about her engagement in an interview.

“Life is too short not to be with the person you want to be with," Cyrus said.
"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. And we want to have a long engagement.”

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They are not rushing into marriage because she is confident of their relationship, Cyrus said.
"Liam and I have a really good relationship," the engaged star told the magazine.
"Neither of us is super jealous. We know each other and would never do anything to hurt each other."

When 22-year-old Liam Hemsworth proposed to Miley Cyrus after their three years of romance, it was a "complete surprise" to her and her family, said Cyrus.

"thank you for all the love today :) I'm happy to share this news with you all," Cyrus tweeted upon their engagement announcement in June.
"I feel like all my dreams are coming true. have a great day."

The duo, however, raised eyebrows that they are too young to marry.
Nina Dovrev, who is dating "Vampire Diaries" co-star Ian Somerhalder, even said "I'm not going to pull a Miley," when asked about her plan for engagement.

But Cyrus is very happy about the promised future, as well as her 3.5-carat Neil Lane diamond engagement ring.

"I had no input," she said of her vintage engagement ring.

"We'd been kind of talking about (getting engaged), and I saw something like it online at one point and thought it was really pretty, but I usually wear rose gold.

She said of the ring, “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.”

While we may not get to see Miley Cyrus in a wedding dress anytime soon, the young couple is enjoying their family-like time in the Cyrus family's old home.

"It's really weird (sleeping) in my parents' room," she said of taking over the 8,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style villa in the San Fernando Valley.

"Now it's my room, and Liam is at my dad's sink and I'm at my mom's. It's really strange, but also really cool. The first time I ever met or hung out with Liam was here. When he first moved to America, he didn't have any family here, so our family became his.
"This is where all our memories are being made."

Marie Claire's September issue will hit the newsstands on August 14.