Miley Cyrus struggled to work out if she had her own opinions

Miley Cyrus struggled to work out if she had her own opinions.

The 19-year-old star - who shot to fame after appearing in Disney show Hannah Montana when she was just 12 years old - spent so long trying to cultivate an "All-American" image that she eventually needed to take a step back and figure out what she really wanted to say for herself.

 

She said: "I feel I was so trained in my interviews to be All-American or whatever. I just got so set in the way of saying the same things I did when I was 12 years old.

 

"I had to smile so much and I had to say so much of the same thing. I finally had to look inside and say, 'What do I really think about this? Do I really think that or am I just trained to say that? Or have I said it for so many years now that that's what people expect me to say, so now I say it so I don't have to say something else and be creative?

 

"I guess I kind of realised that my whole life isn't one giant press junket. I don't have to be smiling all the time and always have the perfect answer."

 

Miley - who is dating her The Last Song co-star Liam Hemsworth - also admitted she can't understand why people have been critical of her racy outfits and thinks it is because they are "scared" by her self-confidence.

 

Speaking on 'The Conversation With Amanda de Cadenet', she said: "People are so scared of seeing a woman being like, 'This is who I am and you're not going to change it."

 

And while the singer-and-actress - whose father is country star Billy Ray Cyrus - never set out to be a sex symbol, she is happy for people to find her attractive.

 

She added: "If people find that [I am a sex symbol], I take it as a compliment. Thank you for thinking I'm sexy!"