John Cena recently discovered one of the most surprising bits of Hannah Montana trivia, and he could hardly believe it.
While appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote his new movie Little Brother, the WWE superstar looked back on his 2010 guest role on the hit Disney Channel series. During the conversation, Cena joked that he never actually shared scenes with Miley Cyrus and instead spent time filming with what he thought was a young cast member.
“I worked with some kid. Some young man, some kid who was on the show, 10 years old,” Cena joked.
That’s when Fallon revealed that the actor Cena was referring to — Jason Earles, who played Miley Stewart’s older brother Jackson — was actually around 33 years old at the time they filmed the episode.
Clearly caught off guard, Cena immediately pushed back on the claim.
“Shut up! That’s not true. That is misinformation,” he responded. “Are you serious? Are you sure about that?”
Even after Jimmy Fallon doubled down on the claim, John Cena still wasn’t buying it.
“Not at all, I wasn’t aware until right now,” Cena said. “I still think I’m being punked. There’s no way that’s true. Come on, look at that. I know I’m big-boned, but that’s a kid. Well, you learn something new every day.”
The surprising age revelation has sparked renewed interest among fans, especially after Jason Earles recently discussed it on the Best of Both Our Worlds podcast, which was launched as part of the Hannah Montana 20th anniversary celebration.
During the conversation, Earles admitted that he wasn’t entirely truthful about his age when auditioning for the Disney Channel series.
“I lied to them and told them I was 18 years old,” Earles revealed. In reality, he was 28 when he secured the role of Jackson Stewart, Miley Cyrus’ lovable and often clueless older brother.
He also shared a moment from the show’s early days when a network executive approached him and said, “Hey, so you’re 28,” before asking if there were “any more secrets” they should know.
According to Earles, executive producer Steven Peterman later thanked him for keeping his real age under wraps.
“Thank you so much for lying to us because we would have gotten nervous… and we would have recast you,” Earles recalled Peterman saying.
Cena made a memorable guest appearance as himself in Season 4’s “Love That Lets Go,” where he appeared in one of Jackson’s dreams and delivered an Attitude Adjustment while encouraging him to focus on studying.
Ironically, when that episode was filmed, Cena and Earles were both around 33 years old — despite Cena believing he was working alongside someone much younger. The two were even born just days apart in April 1977.
