Miley Cyrus has admitted she regrets her “Bangerz” era and her music video for “Wrecking Ball,” saying she allowed herself to become overly sexualized to separate herself from her infamous Hannah Montana character. When the album came out in 2013, Cyrus tells British Vogue that she was desperate to prove that she was more than just a Disney star, even if that meant turning herself into someone she didn’t recognize and performing crazy stunts that would make her cringe in later years.
“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.’”
Miley Cyrus’ antics in the “Wrecking Ball” video as well as her career in general at the time made her the subject of many not-so-nice headlines. That’s something that stung at the time and affected her for a long time.
“I carried some guilt and shame around myself for years because of how much controversy and upset I really caused,” she says. “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 seems much more comfortable in her own skin, more settled. This is largely down to her decision to get sober. Two years ago, she stopped drinking alcohol, a decision that accompanied a natural evolution that comes along with getting older. Now 30, she’s less interested in partying at the club and more interested in making sure her mental and physical health are in a good place. So much so that she was inspired to write a song about it. “I know I used to be crazy,” she shares. “I know I used to be fun. You say I used to be wild. I say I used to be young.” That seems like a song Cyrus fans will definitely want to hear.
