[artist id="2408193"]Miley Cyrus[/artist] appeared nervous and giggly when Ellen DeGeneres asked about her rumored boyfriend, [article id="1597775"]Justin Gaston[/article], during an appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" that airs Thursday, according to "Access Hollywood."

When asked about the 20-year-old model and aspiring singer, Cyrus immediately began to fidget in her chair and laugh nervously, prompting DeGeneres to point out, "He seems like he's your boyfriend."

"I could see where you could see that," said Cyrus, who turns 16 on Sunday. "We've been friends for a couple months."

Though Cyrus wouldn't flat-out confirm or deny the relationship, she did compliment the "Nashville Star" contestant. "He's a singer, he's really cute, and he's nice, and he's a Christian, and I really like that," she said.

[article id="1599467"]Cyrus also addressed the rumors of her death[/article] that surfaced last weekend, when a hacker apparently got into her YouTube account.

"Well, I'm alive," Miley said. "I'm breathing, check my pulse. I'm good."

She told the talk-show host how she heard the news of her own supposed demise. "My mom was at breakfast, actually, with one of her girlfriends, and some one pulled her out and said, 'So, we hear Miley's dead,' and my mom was like, 'Yeah, I'm just having breakfast with my friend over here, just eating,' " Cyrus said. "It's dumb. Everyone was freaking out, but I'm alive."

If anything, Cyrus said she's learning whom she can rely on and whom she can't, as she copes with life in the public eye. "I think you have to be really careful about the people you trust," she said, adding that she hopes her fans don't believe everything they read on the Internet.

"I love having just a bunch of friends ... but there [are] very few, two or three people, that I would go to -- actually go to with anything and know that it would never leave the room," she said. "And two of those are my parents, so I have about one left."