Miley Cyrus and Australian actor Liam Hemsworth should feel excited in the glow of their recent engagement. Instead, the young couple now find themselves defending their decision to marry at a very young age.

It seems that there are some people who deem that the Disney star's walk down the aisle with his beau happens to be premature. So how young it is exactly to say "I do"?

The 19-year old Miley Cyrus and 22-year old Liam Hemsworth announced their engagement last May. The couple met in 2009 when they were filming "The Last Song" together. As the cover girl of US Marie Claire's September magazine issue, Miley Cyrus opened up about her relationship. "Life is too short not to be with the person you want to be with. 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," Cyrus told the magazine.

Not only are Hemsworth and Cyrus comparatively young to be making such a life-long commitment to each another. They also have the added complication of fame together with its difficulties to contend with. However, the young couple has one impressive role model in the long marriage department that they look up to. She is none other than Miley Cyrus' own godmother, Dolly Parton. The American singer and songwriter said that she is really proud of her 46 years marriage to husband Carl Dean.

"It's the first for both of us. And the last," Parton told the Toronto Sun.

The "Hanna Montana" star also seems to be too aware of the pitfalls in a marriage conducted in the limelight. "Neither of us is super-jealous," Cyrus revealed. "We know each other and would never do anything to hurt each other," she added.

One item that shows certain durability is the couple's choice of engagement ring which dates to 1880 and it is already a hundred years older than Cyrus. "I just love that it's old and has a story," Cyrus told the magazine. Only time will tell how long the marriage of Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth can last.

Meanwhile, take a look at the photographs of these celebrities who married young.

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