Miley Cyrus Speaks Out On Sinead O’Connor Criticisms: “God Bless Sinead O’Connor”

deadline.com:

A month after the untimely death of Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor at age 56, Miley Cyrus has spoken about their 2013 conflict over the younger singer’s nudity in her video for “Wrecking Ball.” The incident saw O’Connor write an open letter criticizing Cyrus for appearing nude in the “Wrecking Ball” music video.

O’Connor called it a result of exploitation from the men around the former “Hannah Montana” actress. “I was expecting there to be controversy and backlash, but I don’t think I expected other women to put me down or turn on me, especially women that had been in my position before,” Cyrus said Thursday night in her ABC concert special, “Endless Summer Vacation: Continued (Backyard Sessions).” “This is when I’d received an open letter from Sinead O’Connor, and I had no idea about the fragile mental state that she was in, and I was also only 20 years old, so I could really only wrap my head around mental illness so much.

All that I saw was that another woman had told me that this idea was not my idea.” Cyrus said the video concept was her own decision. “Our younger childhood triggers and traumas come up in weird and odd ways, and I think I’d just been judged for so long for my own choices that I was just exhausted, and I was in this place where I finally was making my own choices and my own decisions, and to have that taken away from me deeply upset me,” Cyrus said. “God bless Sinead O’Connor, for real, in all seriousness.” From there, Cyrus made amends by performing “Wonder Woman,” a track from her new album “Endless Summer Vacation.” A title card indicated the song was dedicated to O’Connor.