Miley Cyrus has had an eventful year, to say the least, but the thing that is often overlooked in the media is the fact that her relationship of four years ended just as her career exploded. While most headlines focus on her twerking and nudity, she says she’s got more on her mind.

The 21-year old sat down with Barbara Walters recently for an in-depth interview and talked for the first time about her relationship–and breakup–with actor Liam Hemsworth.

“I was so scared of ever being alone, and I think, conquering that fear, this year, was actually bigger than any other transition that I had, this entire year,” she said. “I don’t ever want to have to need someone again, where you feel like, without them, you can’t be yourself…I don’t think I realized what 19 truly is, and I got engaged at 19, and I definitely wouldn’t change being engaged. It was so fun wearing a fat rock for a few years. But now, I just feel like I can actually be happy. I wait for those moments of silence, when I’m just at my house, by myself.”

Cyrus has had a huge year, the good being tempered with the bad after she performed a raunchy set with Robin Thicke at the MTV VMAs and received some backlash immediately afterward; video of the performance went viral, and though she says she knew it would get people talking, she had no idea it would be so controversial.

“How many times have we seen this play out in pop music? Madonna’s done it, Britney’s done it. Every VMA performance… anyone that performs, that’s what you’re looking for. You’re wanting to make history,” she said. “Me and Robin the whole time said, ‘You know we’re about to make history right now.’ What’s amazing is I think now, we’re three days later and people are still talking about it. They’re overthinking it.”

You can watch the interview on “Barbara Walters Presents The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2013”, which airs on ABC this Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 9:30 p.m.

Image: Wikimedia Commons