By SHARMILA NAIR
alltherage@thestar.com.my

What happened to this former child star?

This happened.

Miley Cyrus is not the first entertainer to have had a controversial performance at the MTV Video Music Awards and rest assured, she won’t be the last either.

The singer, who many still remember – if they try really hard, that is – as the once innocent Disney product, showed the world yet again that she is not a kid any more by doing one of the most oversexed performance at the awards show last weekend.

Just so you know, Lady Gaga who is infamous for her wild on-stage antics also performed her latest song Applause that night – she even stripped to reveal a shell bikini top and G-string – and no one is talking about that performance.

Yup, that’s how scandalous Cyrus’ performance was that weekend that she overshadowed Gaga.

For years, 20-year-old Cyrus has been trying to prove that she’s not a kid anymore. She has had an almost nude photo scandal, a drug scandal, got a few tattoes on her body and yet, people were not willing to let go of the good girl image she portrayed on the hit TV series Hannah Montana.

Remember when people thought that her “stripper pole” dance routine at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards was the worst thing Cyrus could do in her career? Well, she definitely shut those mouths last weekend. Or to be more accurate, got them to drop their jaws as she gyrated against Robin Thicke’s manhood while performing the latter’s Blurred Lines.

If you think that Cyrus is sorry for ruffling a few feathers and getting parents all across the world in a huff over her risque performance, think again. The singer shows no regret.

On her Twitter page, she tweeted, “Smilers! My VMA performance had 306.000 tweets per minute.

That’s more than the blackout or Superbowl! #fact. She also proudly tweeted Rolling Stone’s review of her performance, “Miley was the one star in the room who truly understood what the MTV Video Music Awards are all about!”

Okay, so the girl got exactly what she wanted – recognition.

While there were severe backlashes from her fans and fellow artistes (check out some of the hilarious reaction shots from Taylor Swift and Niall Horan as they watched the routine), Cyrus just doesn’t give a hoot.

She’s back to doing music with big players like Wiz Khalifa and it seems that the negative response has done nothing to diminish her self-confidence. Cyrus had recently posted more risque photos on her Twitter account and hasn’t even addressed any of the naysayers – including her BFF Kelly Osbourne who wants her to “put her tongue back in her mouth.”

Cyrus has always been different than the other Disney starlets – Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez – and she’s not going to pretend otherwise. If anything, she’s doing exactly what every other artiste out there tells their fans to do – to be themselves. The only problem is, when Cyrus is being herself, it gets uncomfortable for others.

Sharm says: Forget about Miley Cyrus. Doesn’t anyone care about Robin Thicke who was sexually harrassed on live TV?