Miley Cyrus has has admitted that she regrets her infamous public feud with Irish singer Sineád O'Connor in 2013.
O'Connor, who passed away in 2023, wrote and open letter to Cyrus 10 years earlier, where she called out the singer over her Wrecking Ball music video, which featured her swinging naked on a wrecking ball.
In her letter, O'Connor told Cyrus that the music industry "doesn’t give a s**t about you, or any of us".
"I am extremely concerned for you that those around you have led you to believe, or encouraged you in your own belief, that it is in any way 'cool' to be naked and licking sledgehammers in your videos", she said. "They will prostitute you for all you are worth, and cleverly make you think it’s what YOU wanted … and when you end up in rehab as a result of being prostituted, 'they' will be sunning themselves on their yachts in Antigua, which they bought by selling your body and you will find yourself very alone".
At the time, Cyrus responded by sharing screenshots from Twitter/X, showing posts from O'Connor appealing for a psychologist. She also compared her to Amanda Bynes, who was in rehab at the time.
Speaking with The New York Times, Cyrus said, "I responded in a way that I would never as an adult, but that was also an adult talking to a young person".
"That feels like her experience being reflected on to me, but that’s not my experience. My experience was not that the music industry didn’t care about me".
Elsewhere, Cyrus also explained that her father Billy Ray Cyrus and godmother Dolly Parton had taught her about the hardships of the music industry.
"No, I still don’t feel that way. But I also came from a very different upbringing, where I’ve known fame since the moment that I was born, so I was really well prepared. It’s hard to train yourself to know what to expect, everything that fame can bring, but I already had the handbook, because they did the same thing to my dad, and to Dolly, to everyone around me. You know what I think it is? I understand the business I’m in. I’m in the record business", she said.
"When I sign a contract, they’re buying records that they wish to sell, so I understand that I am setting myself up to become merchandise. I’ve committed to them that I want to not only bring success for myself but also to them. So I understand the music industry. At one point in my life, I look forward to just being an artist, untied, untethered. At some point I’ll get to do that".
Speaking of her father, Miley Cyrus also recently spoke about her decade long feud with her father Billy Ray Cyrus, and about how her family have repaired their relationships. More on this here.
