Miley Cyrus has a lot of controversial moments — from the her infamous VMA performance with Robin Thicke to her revealing “Wrecking Ball” music video from 2015. Before that, though, there was her provocative 2008 Vanity Fair cover, which she has addressed in a new TikTok.
She was 15 at the time and appeared topless, only covered in a blanket, which stirred a lot of conversation. Promoting her new song “Used To Be Young,” she said in a TikTok, “We gotta go there — 2008. Everyone knows the controversy of the photo, but they don’t really know the behind-the-scenes, which is always much more meaningful.”
@mileycyrus Used To Be Young (Series) – PART 15
She explained that her sister — Noah Cyrus, who was 8 years old at the time — was sitting on the photographer Annie Leibovitz’s lap during the photoshoot, “pushing the button of the camera taking the pictures.”
“This was the first time I ever wore red lipstick because Pati Dubroff, who did my makeup, thought that that would be another element that would divide me from Hannah Montana,” she said. “This image of me as a complete opposite of the bubblegum pop star that I had been known for being and that’s what was so upsetting. But really, really brilliant choices looking back now from those people.”
