Speaking to Howard Stern on his eponymous radio show, the singer explained that “the hardest times have been in this pandemic”.

"I am always truthful," Cyrus said. "And a lot of people, their sobriety broke during this time. I was one of them. Luckily, I haven't gone back to using any drugs, but I was drinking during the pandemic."

The 28-year-old added that she doesn’t “really like calling it a relapse”.

"I call it, I regressed," she said, "because, it's really, for me, drinking hasn't been… that hasn't been my demon. But it does not get me going any further. 

"If anything, it just makes me not reach my full potential, which is unacceptable to me. Like, I will not accept anyone or anything that causes me to not reach my fullest potential." 

The “Plastic Hearts” singer explained how she doesn’t “consider [herself] an alcoholic” but that drinking has had a severe impact on her relationships.

“I'm not the best partner; I'm not the best daughter; I'm not the best sister. I can be a little unreliable,” she said. 

"So if that's an alcoholic - if we're not measuring it by how much we drink but how we perform as a human being - then I would say alcohol is a problem for me because I'm not at my best."

The musician first spoke about being sober in June this year in an interview on Variety’s podcast, “The Big Ticket”.

“I’ve been sober sober for the past six months,” Cyrus said before explaining that she first became sober following a vocal cord surgery she underwent in November, but that she decided to stay sober after learning about her family’s history of mental health and addiction struggles.

“At the beginning, it was just about this vocal surgery. But I had been thinking a lot about my mother," she said. 

“My mum was adopted, and I inherited some of the feelings she had, the abandonment feelings and wanting to prove that you’re wanted and valuable.”

If you’ve been affected by any of the issues in this article, please visit Drinkaware for a list of useful support services.