Tongues are still wagging after THAT performance by Miley Cyrus at the MTV VMAs but it's her solo appearance on the red carpet that has got fans wondering if she has split from Australian fiance Liam Hemsworth.

His absence as she posed alone on the red carpet has cast fresh doubt over her engagement to Hemsworth and even fuelled talk of them splitting.

Cyrus appeared without her engagement ring back in February when there were rumors that Hemsworth cheated on her with 35-year-old January Jones. There was no comment on the rumors from Hemsworth or Jones, and a few weeks later the ring was back on Cyrus's finger.

Media pundits and celebrities have picked apart Cyrus's sexually provocative performance with Robin Thicke at the VMAs.

Cyrus, 20, wore a nude pvc bikini for the performance, in which she 'twerked' and gyrated against Thicke, a married, 36-year-old dad, and made sexually suggestive gestures with a giant foam hand.

Thicke's mom, Gloria Loring, spoke out against the performance, saying she didn't expect Cyrus to get that close to her son.

"I just keep thinking of her mother and father watching this. Oh, Lord, have mercy," said Loring.

"I was not expecting her to be putting her butt that close to my son. The problem is now I can never 'unsee' it.

"I don't understand what Miley Cyrus is trying to do. I just don't understand. I think she's misbegotten in this attempt of hers.

"And I think it was not beneficial."

The last time Cyrus was seen with her fiance Hemsworth was at the August 8 premiere of his new film, Paranoia.  

At the VMAs, she was accompanied on the red carpet by her producer and posed alone for photos.