Miley Cyrus Reflects on the Turmoil of Her ‘Bangerz’ Era: “I Lost Everything”

In a candid conversation with Monica Lewinsky, the pop icon opens up about the pain, family shame, and body image struggles that followed her provocative 2013 reinvention

More than a decade after the release of her transformative and controversial Bangerz album, pop star Miley Cyrus is finally peeling back the layers of pain hidden beneath her bold public persona. On a recent episode of the Reclaiming podcast with Monica Lewinsky, Cyrus revealed just how deeply that chapter in her life affected her — personally, professionally, and emotionally.

Once adored globally as the wholesome face of Disney’s Hannah Montana, Cyrus said she was blindsided by the intensity of the backlash when she shed that image for a far more provocative one in 2013. “That was the time where I just got hit so hard,” she told Lewinsky. “And I was so embarrassed.”

The weight of public scorn didn’t just fall on her shoulders. It extended painfully into her family life. Cyrus recalled how the fallout from her sexualized performances and image left her siblings too humiliated to attend school. “It would’ve been hard to be my sibling or my parent… how embarrassing,” she admitted, noting how the shame even made it difficult to face her father, country music star Billy Ray Cyrus. “It was really hard for me to go home and see my dad and look him in the eyes.”

The artist also opened up about the personal toll on her romantic life, specifically referencing her broken engagement to actor Liam Hemsworth. “That didn’t work out, because I was sharing a part of myself that men wanted to be saved for them only,” she said, pointing to the conflict between autonomy and societal expectations on female sexuality.

The backlash reached its peak following her infamous 2013 MTV Video Music Awards performance with Robin Thicke — a moment that quickly became fodder for mocking memes and public ridicule. “Everyone started comparing me to a turkey and putting a turkey in my outfit,” she recounted. The emotional scars ran so deep, she said, that for years afterward she couldn’t bring herself to wear shorts or skirts in public.

Now in a more introspective phase of her life and career, Cyrus revealed that the experience has had a lasting impact on her self-image. “To this day, I wear very modest bathing suits,” she said. “You would never think.”

The raw honesty of her reflections reminds fans and critics alike of the tremendous pressure public figures — especially young women — face as they grow up under the glare of fame. In revisiting the pain of the Bangerz era, Miley Cyrus isn’t just reclaiming her narrative — she’s challenging a culture that punishes women for evolving.