LOS ANGELES — Miley Cyrus defended her vamped up image, saying her provocative antics are par for the course for teenagers experiencing a sexual awakening, Hollywood Life reported Wednesday.
“People see me as this perfect Disney star, and the moment I put out a record that says ‘I’m not 11 years old anymore,’ people look down on me,” she told Prestige Magazine in an interview for their September issue.
“Every 18-year-old explores sexuality and experiments and tries things. For me there’s no reason to change that. You have to be true to yourself,” she added.
Cyrus’ meteoric rise to fame began in 2006 at age 13 with her Disney TV show “Hannah Montana” which parlayed into a massively successful musical tour, chart topping albums and hit movie.
But the teen star was blasted in 2008 for a provocative Vanity Fair photo spread, featuring the teenager and her father, country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus.
She was further scrutinized for a sassy pole dance during her performance at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, an online video of her giving a lap dance to director Adam Shankman and the memorable footage of her smoking salvia at her birthday shindig last year.
Her latest album, “Can’t Be Tamed,” has been perceived as her declaration of independence with her sexually suggestive music videos and exotic on-stage dancing.
But Cyrus scoffed at the suggestion she was shedding her good girl image.
“There was this magazine article the other day, showing all the younger celebrities. I was the Girl Next Door or whatever, and I fell under the category of Good Girl Gone Bad. And I was like, ‘What the hell, man?’ I stay in the house pretty much every day. I don’t go out. I’ve had the same boyfriend for two years,” she said.