Miley Cyrus: My heart is fluttering over freedom

Miley Cyrus' "heart is fluttering" after her good friend Gus Kenworthy revealed his homosexuality to the masses.

The 24-year-old freestyle skier won the silver medal at the Winter Olympics in Sochi on 13 February (2014), but he may have made the boldest move of his career to date by coming out as gay in ESPN The Magazine's Being Out Issue, which hits newsstands on October 30.

The athlete's good friend Miley is extremely impressed by Gus' decision to go public with his sexual orientation, gushing over him via her Instagram account on Thursday 22 October (15).

"Never have I ever been prouder to call @guskenworthy my friend!" she wrote in a caption attached to an ESPN magazine cover image featuring Gus. "( and he's a bad a*s f**king Olympic athlete) He is showing all of us what it means to be courageous and PROUD of who we are! You have won so much more than any medal .... You have won FREEDOM!

"So much respect for you I looooove looooove looooove you! Ughhhhhhhhh heart is fluttering, feels like a million little cocoons just busted open and I am filled up with butterflies"

In the same Instagram post, Miley expressed her delight over working with Gus on projects through her charity, The Happy Hippie Foundation, an organisation committed to promoting the wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) and homeless youth.

"I can't wait to see what you and I can do with @happyhippiefdn together!" Miley said. "You are making it possible to shine light on the LGBTQ community in front of a whole new world!"

Gus also shared a moving post on his own Instagram account about coming out.

The Olympian made the decision to come clean because he could no longer cope with the burden of his secret.

"I am gay," Gus wrote. "Wow, it feels good to write those words. For most of my life I've been afraid to embrace that truth about myself. Recently though, I've gotten to the point where the pain of holding onto the lie is greater than the fear of letting go, and I'm proud to finally be letting my guard down."