So, by now I’m sure you are well aware of the whole Miley Cyrus provocative photo brouhaha.
For those of you who have been blissfully living in a media-free world allow me to give you an update:
The 15-year-old squeaky-clean Disney star might want to stay away from digital cameras for a while. The teen is currently embroiled in two front-page controversies both of which involve racy pictures of her.
Last week the singer-actress went on the defensive when “playfully provocative” photos of her posing on her ex-boyfriend’s lap showed up on the Internet. (Cyrus called them “silly.”) In one shot the Disney star’s midriff is exposed as she drapes herself over the lap of her producer’s son. Another picture shot by one of Cyrus’ pals shows part of the singing sensation’s bra.
Fast forward to today when images taken of Cyrus for a yet-to-be released Vanity Fair photo shoot made their way onto to practically every TV morning show, newspaper and Internet site known to man. World-renown professional photographer Annie Leibovitz, whom Cyrus said she trusted implicitly, shot the risqué photos.
Turns out the photos that the teen thought were going to be “artistic” are being classified by the masses as “too racy” and “extremely inappropriate.” The backlash prompted the teen to issue a public apology to her young fans. (Cyrus said after seeing the photos and reading the accompanying article she is “so embarrassed.”)
In one of the shots taken by Leibovitz Cyrus appears to be topless (she’s actually covered by a sheet).
I’m sure that’s the picture that prompted Cyrus’ bosses at Disney to commence with damage control this morning.
Execs at the Disney Channel, which airs Cyrus’s series “Hannah Montana,” said in a public statement: “Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines.”
I should note that the teen’s parents accompanied her to the Vanity Fair photo shoot. (In fact Cyrus’ famous father Billy Ray posed for a few shots with Miley that were published as well.) However, sources that were present at the shoot are now saying that Cyrus’ parents left before Leibovitz convinced Miley to strip down for the sheet shot. (The teen’s grandmother and teacher reportedly oversaw those photos.)
Cyrus’ parents say they are mortified by the pictures of their teen daughter draped in a sheet and blame Vanity Fair for the negative exposure.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for both Vanity Fair and Leibovitz told a New York newspaper: “Miley’s parents and/or minders were on the set all day. Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley.”
Have you seen the pictures? What do you think?
Personally, I think Cyrus should have just said the girl in the photos was her body double.