Johnny Cyrus rang in his 21st birthday in May by traveling from his Milwaukee home to San Francisco for Kylie Jenner’s pop-up shop — where the star greeted him with a $2,000 Louis Vuitton backpack.
“Isn’t it cool?” Cyrus told The Post, using the same unaffected tone the Kardashian-Jenner clan employs when showing off designer goods on Snapchat.‘I would consider it now more like a friendship’
He is a certified superfan: an elite group of followers who prove devotion to their idols via obsessive social-media posts and attendance at celebs’ public appearances. And many of them, like Cyrus, are rewarded for their loyalty.
But Cyrus, who has nine Jenner-themed tattoos (including a letter K with a crown), no longer calls himself a superfan. “I would consider it now more like a friendship,” he said.
While Jenner boasts some 111 million Instagram followers, she herself only follows 136 people — Cyrus is one of them, and the two direct-message each other almost daily. “Recently, I told her that I missed her blond hair and she was like, ‘Don’t worry, it’s coming back soon,’ ” Cyrus said. “The next day, she had blond hair.”
His love of the reality-star-turned-cosmetics-mogul began in 2015 when Jenner launched her app, on which she would give paying users a peek into her life.
From there, Cyrus attended one of Jenner’s meet-and-greet events in Chicago. But he could only see her, not meet her, because he hadn’t purchased the right level of access. Lesson learned, he bought a round-trip flight to Orlando, Fla., for a VIP event which cost $250. (He pays for his trips with his salary as a certified nursing assistant).
Something clicked when they met, and Jenner began replying to Cyrus’ tweets about her. She even introduced him to her family when he attended the “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” 10th-anniversary taping in 2017 in Los Angeles.
But that’s not as extreme as the time Jenner’s sister Kim Kardashian invited her own superfan Myleeza Mingo to appear on the show in August 2015. The series’ executive producer Farnaz Farjam said that Kardashian considers the 24-year-old woman from New Orleans her “alter ego” after spotting her on Twitter, where Mingo regularly posts about the star.
Her obsession began in 2008, when Kardashian came to Mingo’s hometown to learn about Hurricane Katrina’s devastation. “She put on display how Louisiana . . . needed help,” Mingo said.
Kardashian began replying to Mingo’s posts, and the two met in 2013 at a fan event. With her handle @MyleezaKardash, Mingo now has more than 35,000 followers on Twitter. (Jenner has boosted Cyrus from 5,000 Instagram followers to 147,000.)
Over the years, Kardashian has gifted Mingo tickets to Kanye West concerts, Yeezy sneakers, an Apple Watch and a steady supply of the star’s KKW Beauty cosmetics.
Taylor Swift superfan Stephanie Nastri has also received lots of swag from her idol. Back in 2014, the now 34-year-old nanny from East Haven, Conn., posted a story on Instagram about finding solace in the pop star’s music.
“I [talked] about how . . . [it] got me through some really hard times, one of which was my struggle to conceive my son,” she said of her child Leyton, now 2 years old. “[Swift] commented on it.”
In October of that year, Swift invited Nastri along with 88 others to Rhode Island to be one of the first to hear her “1989” album. A month later, the singer showed up at the superfan’s home with a ride-on toy Mercedes, a piano floor mat and a remote-control car for Leyton; and for Nastri, a diamond necklace which Swift had worn in a Diet Coke commercial.
But not all celebrity-fan interaction is positive. Over the past few years, Swift has had to deal with several stalkers. In April, a man broke into her downtown Manhattan home — for the second time — and was found sleeping in the singer’s bed. Also in April, a second man was reportedly arrested at Swift’s Beverly Hills, Calif., mansion on suspicion of stalking. (Swift was not home at the time of any of these incidents.)
The same month, a third man was sentenced to 10 years of probation and GPS monitoring after violating a protective order; he reportedly followed Swift to a 2016 Texas concert and e-mailed threatening messages to her family. And in 2013, a man was arrested for trespassing after swimming up to Swift’s Rhode Island home.
”It’s really disheartening to see people disrespect her boundaries in such a way,” said Nastri. She clarifies that “a superfan . . . is a fan that truly loves an artist and is thankful for their work, but along with it . . . they respect and protect boundaries. A stalker is someone who is consumed by the artist — and often without rhyme or reason. They do not know or respect boundaries. As far as lines that fans/superfans don’t cross . . . rules would include the seemingly obvious ‘do not show up uninvited at the artist’s house,’ and ‘do not follow them around if you see them in public.’ ”
One celebrity publicist told The Post that stars’ security teams typically vet superfans before they are allowed personal time.
“It may not be a formal background check — maybe someone just gets on the phone with them first or checks them out online,” the publicist said. Meet-and-greet events tend to have plenty of security and, she added, are often kept “contained” in an easy-to-patrol space.
It’s not always easy carrying the torch for a celebrity. Mingo, who is black, regularly stands up for Kardashian against critics who take the star to task for wearing her hair in boxer braids and cornrows.
“A lot of people from the black community are like . . . ‘She steals from black culture,’ ” said Mingo, who works in publicity. “I’m more like, ‘Look, y’all, maybe she is wrong about this situation, but she’s not trying to hurt people.’ ”
Meanwhile, some superfans complain that their access to A-listers is exploited by other followers.
Trevor McMullan, a 25-year-old fashion stylist from New Jersey, made a special connection with Lady Gaga in 2011.
“[Gaga] would notice that I . . . just [wanted] to talk to her,” said McMullan. “When [most fans are] meeting a celebrity . . . it’s about getting something signed or a picture, and it makes her feel like a mannequin.”
His tactic landed him among an inner circle invited to exclusive events. But that also got him noticed by other fans who, he says, used him to get closer to the pop star.
A Gaga insider confirmed that, a couple years ago, “Twitter played a major role [in driving competition]. That whole fanbase was always on [Twitter] and the superfans would get into fights. Lots of bullying.”
McMullan was particularly turned off by one who gained popularity on Twitter by posting about Gaga’s whereabouts, and “became popular on the back of her. It makes me upset that someone that I genuinely just want to talk to is being used that way.”