Miley Cyrus Dedicates Song to Sinead O’Connor 10 Years After Their Public ‘Wrecking Ball’ Feud, Says She Was Unaware of O’Connor’s “Fragile Mental State”

It’s been 10 years since Miley Cyrus twerked on Robin Thicke and swung around nude on a wrecking ball, prompting the late Sinéad O’Connor to publish an open letter to the young musician at the time. Despite reacting negatively to the criticism when she was 20 years old, Cyrus, now 30, is reflecting on their public feud.

While discussing her career on the ABC music special, Endless Summer Vacation: Continued (Backyard Sessions), Cyrus opened up about O’Connor’s reaction to her controversial “Wrecking Ball” music video — which she told the Rolling Stone was inspired by the Irish singer’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” video.

“I was expecting for there to be controversy and backlash,” Cyrus said of her transformed image, per Yahoo Entertainment. “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.”

Shortly after the video’s release, an “extremely concerned” O’Connor published an open letter in The Guardian, where she warned Cyrus against obscuring her talent by allowing herself to be “pimped” out by the music industry and “exploited” — which she wrote was “absolutely NOT in ANY way an empowerment of yourself or any other young women.”

At the time, Cyrus responded by comparing O’Connor — who has been open about her mental illnesses — to former Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes.

“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 only so much,” Cyrus said on the ABC special. “And all that I saw was that another woman told me that this idea was not my idea. And even if I was convinced that it was, it was still just, you know, men in power’s idea of me. And they had manipulated me to believe that it was my own idea when it never really was.”

She clarified, “It was [my idea]. And it is. And I still love it.”

The Hannah Montana alum added that she was going through a difficult time in her life when the letter was published. According to her, she was “exhausted” from being “judged for so long” — so when she was “finally” making her own choices and decisions, having it “taken away” was “deeply [upsetting].”

“God bless Sinéad O’Connor for real, in all seriousness,” Cyrus said, before dedicating “Wonder Woman” — a song from her new album — to the singer, who died last month at the age of 56.

Endless Summer Vacation: Continued (Backyard Sessions) is currently streaming on Hulu.