Miley Cyrus on Her "Guilt and Shame" Over 2013 Twerking Controversy

Miley Cyrus attends Miley Cyrus' Official Album Release Party for "Bangerz" at The General on October 8, 2013 in New York City. — (Image credit: Photo by Jamie McCarthy / Getty)

After first rising to fame as the titular character in Hannah Montana, a 20-year-old Miley Cyrus wanted to show the world that she was more than just a Disney Channel star.

In a bid to change her image, she got naked in the music video for her song "Wrecking Ball" and twerked with Robin Thicke on stage at the 2013 MTV Music Video Awards.

Unfortunately, she received a huge amount of criticism after that performance. Reflecting on it today, in a new interview with British Vogue, Cyrus commented on how disproportionate the backlash was.

"I’m actually not an attention-seeking person, sitting here as a 30-year-old grown woman," she explained.

"I was creating attention for myself because I was dividing myself from a character I had played. Anyone, when you’re 20 or 21, you have more to prove. 'I’m not my parents.' 'I am who I am.'"

She continued, "I carried some guilt and shame around myself for years because of how much controversy and upset I really caused.

"Now that I’m an adult, I realize how harshly I was judged. I was harshly judged as a child by adults and now, as an adult, I realize that I would never harshly judge a child."

These days, Cyrus doesn't need to prove anything to anyone but herself—telling Vogue that she is done with people-pleasing, and is ready to live life for herself.

"Do I want to live my life for anyone else’s pleasure or fulfilment other than my own?" she asks, concluding mysteriously, "And, you know what…"

Good for her!!!

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.