Billy Ray Cyrus has talked about those pictures of daughter Miley. The Vanity Fair ones, not the myspace pictures of her with various boys and lifting up her shirt.

“I didn’t know they were gonna strip her down and wrap her in a blanket,” Cyrus told Meredith Vieira on “Today” Tuesday in New York, referring to the shot of his 15-year-old daughter taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz. In the photo, the “Hannah Montana” star appeared to be topless, covered only by a sheet she clutched to her chest.

Though Cyrus doesn’t approve of the photograph, which Leibovitz defended as “a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup,” he said that heeded his dad’s advice on the situation.

“My dad always told me the more you stomp in poop, the more it stinks,” Billy Ray said. “So I was just, ‘OK, this happened. We got to deal with it.’ ”

And what about that other photo of Miley in Billy Ray’s lap, which also raised more than a few eyebrows?

“That’s just a daddy who loves his daughter a whole lot,” Billy Ray explained, laughing off the question about the pose that Vieira thought made them look like more like girlfriend and boyfriend.

Los Angeles Times

I know a lot of people think Miley should have been more carefully supervised at the photo shoot, but you don’t drop your 15-year-old daughters off to work as babysitters and supervise their shift, maybe they were trying to give their daughter some normalcy at work. Posing for photos and publicity is what she does for a living to promote her show and music.

I also thought that the pictures of Billy Ray and his daughter were nice. The matching clothes bothered me, not the pose. I think anyone that suggests that there is something inappropriate in their relationship is way out of line, particularly when it is based on a photograph.

Any photographers working with Miley in the future are probably going to give the Cyrus camp the power of veto over what gets published.

More details are emerging about the way that Miley Cyrus was persuaded to pose backless and covered in a sheet for famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz in a series of photos to be published in the June issue of Vanity Fair, which is out tomorrow and features Robert F Kennedy on the cover. A spokesperson for the magazine claimed that Miley’s “parents and/or minders were on the set all day” and implied that they approved all the photos before they were published, but both Disney and Miley’s people claim that’s not how it happened.

Disney says Miley was manipulated; her dad says he wasn’t on the set at that point and didn’t see those photos
When the Disney Channel issued a statement that “a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines,” I assumed they were overstating their case in an attempt to do damage control, but new details make it seem as if that’s exactly what happened.

Miley’s reps say that her parents weren’t on the set at the time that the controversial backless photos were taken. Her grandmother and teacher were there and were convinced that it would be ok.

“Miley’s parents did leave the shoot and were not present for the final shot, nor did they see any digital images of the shot in question,” a Miley spokeswoman told The Post yesterday.

Her grandmother and her teacher were left to supervise, according to People magazine.

“Annie convinced them it was going to be artistic,” a source told People. “Her parents are mortified.”

[From The NY Post]

Leibovitz convinced Miley to take those photos after her parents left
Leibovitz explained how the photos came about, saying “Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together, and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful.”

In the article accompanying the pictures, Miley says that it was hard to refuse the photographer’s request. She called the photo “really artsy,” but not “in a skanky way,” and said “You can’t say no to Annie. She’s so cute. She gets this puppy-dog look, and you’re like, OK.” [NY Post]

Given the news that Miley’s parents had left at that point, you can’t help but think that Liebovitz knew exactly what she was doing. I personally don’t find the photos all that revealing or sexy, but Miley’s target audience are young kids and a lot of people say she’s sending the wrong message with those pictures. Her whole image as a wholesome Christian teen star is threatened by this mini-scandal, and rumor has it that Disney plans to keep her out of the spotlight for a while until the story dies down. Meanwhile Miley’s dad Billy Ray is said to be “furious” that the photos were taken and never shown to him or his wife before they were published. He is said to have left early on the day of the shoot due to “a prior commitment.”

Here’s a behind the scenes video from Vanity Fair’s website:

15 year-old sensation Miley Cyrus and her dad, country singer Billy Ray, were interviewed on Access Hollywood by former “Brady Bunch” star Maureen McCormick. Billy Ray talked about how he tries to keep the paparazzi in line around his teen daughter by asking to see their faces and having chats with them. Miley also told a cute story about how she took her dad to get a little tattoo on his hand she designed and took him to a salon afterwards to get highlights in his hair. Billy Ray, 46, said it was Miley’s day when that happened and that he willingly submitted to the makeover.

On the paparazzi
Billy Ray: “When I see people taking pictures of my little girl, I usually try to get them to roll down the window and get a picture of them, because I just want to know who’s stalking my family.”

“I’ll go knock on the window and say ‘I just wanted to see your face because you’re taking pictures of my little girl’… just in case.”

Miley: “‘If I have to hunt you down and kill you,’ then he knows what they look like.’”

Miley told a story about how her dad intimidated a photographer. She said “He was like ‘Dude. Not cool’ [making mean face] The other guy was like ‘Sorry Mr. Cyrus’” [holding hands up]

On the heart tattoo and highlights Miley got her dad
Billy Ray: “We were sitting in church, uh…”

Miley: “You never start a tattoo story off with ‘I was sitting in church,’ that sounds so terrible.”

Billy Ray: “This is the truth… we were sitting beside each other and I noticed that she picked up my hand and drew this little heart on there, and I had already declared that day was Miley’s day. I said ‘Anything that you want to do, today is your day’”

“She said, ‘Daddy, I know what I want to do… take you to the tattoo parlor.’ The next thing I know we’re driving out there, heading for Pasadena on a Sunday afternoon.”

Miley: “And then I took him and got him highlights.”

Billy Ray: “We come across a place called ‘Wackos,’ open on a Sunday afternoon.”

Miley: “It was $20 for a whole head.”

Billy Ray: “It was Miley’s day, she took me to the tattoo parlor and to Wackos for a hairdo.”

Miley: “So I get my dad a makeover”

15 year-old Miley is the new paparazzi target after Britney’s return to sanity. It’s nice to know that she has a protective family and that they do fun activities together. Still, it’s can be a nasty business and I hope she can get through her teen years with her childhood relatively intact. It’s got to be crazy to be swarmed by photographers like that wherever you go and it’s nice that her dad is looking out for her. Maybe a move to the country might be in order soon.

Here’s the video of the interview, thanks to rockers94 on redlasso. Photos are of Miley out shopping yesterday at the Beverly Center, thanks to Splash News.