Miley Cyrus No Longer Feels ‘Shame’ About Past Controversies: I Was ‘Harshly Judged’

Miley Cyrus is reflecting on the scrutiny she faced in her early 20s. The singer spoke to British Vogue and shared how she used to carry “shame” around her early years because of the backlash some of her career choices caused. Now, she realizes she was mistreated.

“I carried some guilt and shame around myself for years because of how much controversy and upset I really caused,” she said. “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,” she added.

Many of the controversies that arose in her career were during her Bangerz album era, which included her polarizing nude video for “Wrecking Ball” and her Robin Thicke twerk session at the 2013 VMAs. (She also posed topless for the cover of Vanity Fair in 2008.)

“I was creating attention for myself because I was dividing myself from a character I had played,” she said of that time. “Anyone, when you’re 20 or 21, you have more to prove. ‘I’m not my parents.’ ‘I am who I am.’”

Cyrus also spoke on the headlines that spawned from her early pop star years as she transitioned from being the star of Hannah Montana to a career without the Disney Channel label. She specifically reflected on a headline that spoke about her acne that read “A Breakout Year.”

“Like who thought that I was not a person who would be hurt by that? Like I was clearly a 20-year-old girl,” she said. “Sure, at 20, I was like every 20-year-old. You think you’re grown, but now I’m like, ‘Oh, no, I was fully a kid.’”

The scrutiny she faced is set to be the subject of an upcoming song she plans to release, and whose lyrics she teased to British Vogue: “I know I used to be crazy. I know I used to be fun. You say I used to be wild. I say I used to be young.”

Cyrus is having a banner year following the success of her single “Flowers” and its accompanying album, Endless Summer Vacation. She also released the video for her single “Jaded” earlier this week.