Former teen star Hilary Duff is refusing to judge Miley Cyrus' decision to pose for controversial photos in Vanity Fair magazine - but insists she wouldn't have made the same mistake.

The snaps, which show 15-year-old Cyrus posing topless under a blanket, have caused outcry in her native U.s. - forcing the singer/actress to apologise, and claim she was duped into the shots.

Duff, 20, agrees Cyrus was probably pushed into posing - and that her apology should be accepted.

She says, "Everyone goes through things and takes their own path. Who am I to judge decisions that she made?"

"People are pushing you to do something, and if you want to do it, that's your choice, you know? It's not what I would choose to do, but if she did then that's fine. That's her choice."

"And she said she is sorry - she is allowed to be sorry."