Miley Cyrus has appeared on the most recent episode of Lifetime’s “The Conversation,” which is hosted by Amanda de Cadenet, who also produces the show along with Demi Moore. I’ll admit that I’m surprised because Miley ends up being a pretty interesting interview even though she’s talking about not trying to be sexy when she clearly does make such efforts including her latest cleavage-baring, red-carpet outfit at the Billboard Awards. Also she had a recent >deliberate or mistake of an upskirt, but I’m honestly not trying to knock her. In this interview, Miley really seems to get it. Not just the part where she talks about sex but also her answers about learning to be herself instead of the manufactured Disney persona that she lived within for so many years. Here are some transcribed excerpts from Miley’s talk with Amanda:

On leaving the “Hannah Montana” persona behind: “I was so trained in my interviews to be the All-American whatever, and then I realized that I was so used to saying that, and then I looked at it one day, and what I was saying really wasn’t true anymore. I just got so set in the same way of saying things when I was twelve years old … so I guess I just realized that my entire life wasn’t some giant press junket. I don’t have to be smiling all the time.”

Did she feel the pressure to perform in a showbiz family? “When I was younger, I really did want that, and now when I think about it, you can’t change it, you can’t go back, you can’t regret anything. It’s best not to. You’d drive yourself crazy. No matter what, you can’t rewind, as much as you want to. And there are times when I actually say, ‘Would I have done that now? I might say don’t do it, ’cause that isn’t going to be who you are.’ But I did, and you can’t let that stop you. And one of my really good friends, she says, ‘If you let your past be your present, then it’s inevitably going to be your future.’ And so I just don’t want that anymore. I don’t want to feel tied to something that obviously isn’t me.”

On her home sanctuary: “I really had a hard time learning to be alone. I hated to be alone, and my mom hates that too. And then I just started to really enjoy being alone. I think it’s because I had to smile so much, and I had to say so much of the same thing. It’s like I just really wanted to go inside [my head] and be like, ‘What do I really think about this? Do I really think that, or am I just trained to say that? Or have I said that for so many years now that it’s what people expect me to say so I don’t have to be creative and say something else?’ But I guess I just really had to learn to be alone, and now I love it. I love being by myself. I thought when I got my own place, I’d have people staying with me all the time. Now I try and kick people out by 10 o’clock so I can just sit on the couch with my dogs and watch tv.”

On having a sexy image: “That’s not the point. You’re not sitting here trying to be sexy. If people find that and find you sexy, take it as a compliment. It’s like, ‘This is just how I am, and thank you for thinking I’m sexy.’ People are so scared of seeing a woman being like, ‘This is who I am, you’re not going to change it.'”

On sex as a currency: “The girls who really base how much they’re worth on sexual favors that they can do for somebody — that makes me really sad because sex actually really is very beautiful. It’s like the only way that we create, and it’s the only way that the world keeps going. So it’s ignorant not to talk to your kids about it and not make it seem as magical and cool as it really is. If they have a tv, they know what sex is. Everyone knows, so educate them. Let them know that they wouldn’t be here without it, and it is beautiful, and it is magic, and it is when you connect with somebody, and it isn’t about how much you’re worth. Your worth is based upon how you feel about yourself.”

[From The Conversation]

In a sense, I can see what Miley is saying about how — if she had known what she knows now — she may have never decided to be Hannah Montana in the first place. Then again, it’s really easy to say that while resting easily upon millions of dollars in one’s own mansion, right? Even though Miley might be slightly out of touch due to her years of fame and riches, I still think she comes off as fairly lucid and aware of herself as a person. Of course, she’s got all the time and money in the world to meditate upon such issues too.

Here’s video of Miley’s appearance on “The Conversation,” and Melissa McCarthy appears in episode a bit later as well. I kind of got distracted by the dog who keeps appearing and disappearing from Miley’s lap throughout the interview.

Screencaps courtesy of Vimeo; photo of Miley at the 2012 Billboard Awards courtesy of WENN