Miley Cyrus explains why she's taking back her apology over topless photo 10 years ago

She posed topless for Vanity Fair at age 15.

The singer, 25, took back her apology for the near-nude photo published in Vanity Fair in 2008. Over the weekend, she tweeted a photo of the New York Post's cover from that time, with a headline that read "Miley's Shame."

"IM NOT SORRY," she wrote, along with an expletive and the hashtag "#10yearsago."

Appearing on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Tuesday, Cyrus explained why she felt the need to address something that happened 10 years ago.

"It popped up on my little Instagram feed, and I thought, 'Hey, telling them to go f--- themselves seems fun right now,'" Cyrus quipped. "I was bored!"

The "Climb" singer was especially incensed by the Post's headline.

Cyrus explained that there was nothing shameful about the way photographer Annie Leibovitz took the photo.

"For me, when this photo was taken -- and I know this will probably get turned around, too -- but when this photo was taken, my little sister was here on set," Cyrus said. "She actually was sitting with Annie Leibovitz taking photos, too, and there was nothing sexualized about this on set."

She continued, "And it was everyone else's poisonous thoughts and minds that ended up turning this into something that it wasn't meant to be. So, actually I shouldn't be ashamed -- they should be."

"I'm sure somebody told me to. But you know what? That's why I don't do what people tell me to anymore, because that idea sucked!" the pop star said. "They want to know why I come on TV shows with no shirt on. Blame them!"

She added, "I think at that time I just wanted this to go away, and I think I also was trying to balance and understand what being a role model is."

Since then, her definition of role model has changed.

"To me, I think being a role model has been my free spirited-ness and sometimes my unapologetic attitude for decisions that I feel comfortable with," she said.

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