Miley Cyrus has spoken out about why she was crying in her controversial music video for 'Wrecking Ball', claiming that her tears were for her dead dog. 

The explicit video, which sees Cyrus swinging naked on a wrecking ball and licking a sledgehammer, went on to break records after clocking up over 19million views on Vevo in just 24 hours. 

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the former teen-pop sensation was asked about the reason behind her tears during the ballad.

"That was real," she said. "My dog just passed away."

The magazine also questioned Cyrus on her thinking behind her controversial 'twerking' performance with Robin Thicke at last month's MTV VMA Awards, but she insists that she was misunderstood and can do much, much better. 

"I wasn't trying to be sexy," said Miley. "If I was trying to be sexy, I could have been sexy. I can dance a lot better than I was dancing."

She continued: "People are like, 'Miley thinks she's a black girl, but she's got the flattest ass ever,'" she says. "I'm like, I'm 108 pounds! I know! Now people expect me to come out and twerk with my tongue out all the time. I'll probably never do that shit again."

Miley made headlines last week when her fans sent abusive Tweets to rising New Zealand star Lorde after she beat Cyrus to the top of the US iTunes star with her smash hit 'Royals'. Cyrus' fans, otherwise known 'smilers' hit out at Lorde, saying "go kill yourself you crusty old hag" and "I'll stab your rotting corpse". Oh dear. 

Miley responded to Lorde's tweet regarding the No.1 and the death threats saying "Why r people so mean??? Ps your music is awesome"

Her new album, Bangerz will be released on 8 October.