Entertainment Music Why Miley Cyrus' Life Was 'Changed Forever' After Raunchy VMAs Performance with Robin Thicke Miley Cyrus has expressed regrets for her infamous foam finger ride during her 2013 VMAs performance with Robin Thicke By Jordan Runtagh Jordan Runtagh Twitter Jordan Runtagh is an Executive Podcast Producer at iHeartRadio, where he hosts a slate of pop culture shows including Too Much Information, Inside the Studio, Off the Record and Rivals: Music's Greatest Feuds. Previously, he served as a Music Editor at PEOPLE and VH1.com. He's written about art and entertainment for more than a decade, regularly contributing to outlets like Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, and appearing as a guest on radio and television. Over the course of his career, he's profiled the surviving Beatles, Brian Wilson, Aretha Franklin, Roger Waters, David Byrne, Pete Townshend, Debbie Harry, Quincy Jones, Brian May, Jerry Lee Lewis, James Taylor and many more. A graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, he lives in Brooklyn, where he can be found DJing '60s soul records. People Editorial Guidelines Published on March 1, 2018 04:30 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic Almost five years on, Miley Cyrus is reflecting on her infamous foam finger ride during her 2013 VMAs performance with Robin Thicke. The raunchy rendition of her then-recent hit "We Can't Stop," melded with #Thicke's ubiquitous summer smash "Blurred Lines," shocked fans as she sought to distance herself from her family friendly Hannah Montana persona. Viewed now, Cyrus, 25, says the controversial performance did more than help jettison her child star image (and introduce the concept of "twerking" to a wider demographic) — it helped her grow up. "Not only was culture changed, but my life and career were changed forever," she says in a revealing interview for Wonderland magazine's spring 2018 issue. "It inspired me to use my platform for something much bigger. If the world is going to focus on me and what I am doing, then what I am doing should be impactful and it should be great." Ellen von Unwerth In the intervening years, Cyrus has become a passionate advocate for the LGBTQ and homeless communities through her Happy Hippie Foundation, a nonprofit organization established to fight "injustice for vulnerable populations." The year after her provocative duet with Thicke, she arrived at the 2014 VMAs with a young homeless man named Jesse Helt, transforming a red carpet walk into a spotlight on American youth shelters. RELATED VIDEO: Miley Cyrus' Fun Family Farm Weekend Ellen von Unwerth While she initially earned fame for her acting talent in the aforementioned Disney Channel hit, plus breakout roles in feature films like The Last Song —where she first met on-again-off-again fiancé Liam Hemsworth — Cyrus admits that the static and sometimes tedious process of filmmaking isn't for her these days. "My attention span doesn't love the idea of focusing and being on one project for so many months, especially being a character and not getting to be myself for that amount of time," she says. "I get really deep into the characters I play, just like I do with music. So then it becomes hard for me to relate — even to my family and friends — I'm so deep into that character. So for right now, I am so content with where I am, being someone else doesn't sound that fun to me." Pre-order your copy online at http://www.wonderlandshop.com.