Miley Cyrus Explains MTV VMAs Antics: I Just Play Character

'I don't really dress as a teddy bear and, like, twerk on Robin Thicke,' the former Disney star says of her VMA performance.

Miley Cyrus has opened up about her controversial performances in 2013. In an interview with The New York Times, the 21-year-old singer says that her raunchy on-stage antics are just her playing a character.

"I went from people just thinking I was, like, a baby to people thinking I'm this, like, sex freak that really just pops molly and does lines all day," she explains. "It's like, 'Has anyone ever heard of rock 'n' roll?' There's a sex scene in pretty much every single movie, and they go, 'Well, that's a character.' "

"Well, that's a character. I don't really dress as a teddy bear and, like, twerk on Robin Thicke, you know?" she addresses her now-infamous performance with the "Blurred Lines" singer at MTV Video Music Awards last August.

When asked about rumor that she had a Vogue cover pulled because of the racy VMA performance, the former "Hannah Montana" star replies, "I can't say too much. But it was where I was kind of going to have to do this trade-off, and I wasn't willing to. Right now, me doing any kind of cover for anything that's like, a Seventeen or Teen Vogue or whatever, the way that I talk isn't the way that people that are 17 really understand."

She also talks about some scandalous photos and videos that emerged when she was still a Disney artist. She explains that wasn't purposefully rebelling against the Mouse House, saying, "Things came out that happened - like, you know, bong videos - when I was on Disney. But I never wanted to do that to Disney."

"When I was no longer employed by anyone, that's when I was like, 'OK, I'm going to do my own thing.' But I waited until I felt like I had respectfully finished out what I was supposed to do," she adds.