Controversial singer and former teen star Miley Cyrus said in an interview on Australia's "Sunday Night" show that she still loves her former fiancé, actor Liam Hemsworth.
"I love Liam, Liam loves me," Cyrus told reporter Chris Bath in the interview. The singer and actor, who were engaged in 2012, broke up in September last year.
They met when they both starred in the film "The Last Song" in 2010 and began dating shortly after.
Asked about her single Wrecking Ball, which has been said to allude to the decline of the couple's relationship, the singer said it's "about finding yourself, and sometimes you have to separate yourself from everyone."
"I just had to become this person who is sitting in this chair right now. If I didn't, I just felt like there was something that was going to explode and I had to set myself free," she continued.
After the couple's separation, Cyrus's father, country musician Billy Ray Cyrus, said in 2013, "All I know for sure is I heard my daughter say she's the happiest she's ever been in her life following the breakup. That's when I saw Miley being so happy. "
The singer said that same year that she was "so scared of being alone, and I think, conquering that fear, this year, was actually bigger than any other transition that I had, this entire year. I don't ever want to have to need someone again, where you feel like, without them, you can't be yourself."
In her interview with Bath on the Australian show, she also spoke about the criticism she has been receiving since she transitioned into the image she now has. "That's just what I like to wear," Cyrus said.
"I never think about what someone is going to think. I've always been into fashion... and both my parents are covered in tattoos and are really cool," the singer said.