Kelly and Sharon Osbourne were on the Piers Morgan show last night, and as these two have done so many times before, both individually and as a unit, they critiqued someone else. At least this one isn’t likely to result in a bitchy back and forth public feud. Piers asked the combative duo what they thought about Billy Ray Cyrus trashing his daughter’s route to fame, and Kelly called it “inappropriate” while Sharon said that Miley made her dad relevant again.

MORGAN: What do you make of what’s going on at the moment in Hollywood with — there’s two interesting things I thought for you guys to talk about. One, the Charlie Sheen thing, which is ongoing. And the second thing is what Billy Ray Cyrus said about Miley Cyrus, that he wished as a parent he had never let her go down the route she’s gone down, in terms of fame and stuff.

K. OSBOURNE: I think that’s a really inappropriate thing for someone to say, especially when what they did together gave that person their career back. And it’s not fair to do that to your own child.

MORGAN: Really?

K. OSBOURNE: It’s really inappropriate thing to say.

S. OSBOURNE: I do too. I don’t think he should have done that in print. He may think it. It might be, you know –

K. OSBOURNE: He might have meant it in a different way. But in black and white, it seems so just harsh, especially because I love Miley. She’s a dear friend of mine. I know how hard she works. She works so hard. I just think that that discredits everything she’s done in her life, not just for herself, but her whole family. It’s disrespectful.

MORGAN: She’s built an incredible career for herself. She’s very young.

S. OSBOURNE: She’s very talented.

K. OSBOURNE: And him.

S. OSBOURNE: Yes, she made him relevant again.

[From Transcripts.CNN.com]

I don’t disagree with them. Last night I saw that HLN Showbiz Tonight show on in the background when I was eating out. There was no sound and I just saw the headline “Osbournes trash Billy Ray Cyrus” or something and figured they were talking smack as they always do. In reality they kind of said what a lot of people did about this controversy when it first came out. Billy Ray has since made up for this, but I don’t expect Kelly and Sharon to follow gossip as slavishly as we do and know every detail about it. Piers Morgan is stirring the pot, and you would think that he would be up on the news that Billy Ray has since backtracked from these comments.

In other Billy Ray Cyrus news, the mullet is still trying to make up for that same “Hannah Montana destroyed my family” GQ interview. He gave an interview to Parade and said that he just hopes Miley is happy. He’s no longer saying she should give up on fame. “As long as she’s happy and loving making music — and I know she loves acting — that’s all that matters.” That’s much different from saying that the show destroyed his family, that he was underpaid and that he would “erase it all [the fame] in a second if I could.”

He later explained that he was a “mess” when he did that GQ interview and compared talking to the press at that time to going grocery shopping when you’re hungry. I had a lot of respect for the guy after that and felt like he was just saying his piece and trying to do the best he could. He was hurt by the breakup of his marriage, he’s since gotten back together with his wife Tish and called off the divorce, and he’s trying to make nice now. It may have been “inappropriate” to say all that at first, but Piers didn’t do his homework by bringing up that controversy from February without mentioning that Billy Ray apologized nearly a month ago. Piers also never asked Kelly and Sharon about their separate issues with paying taxes and owing money to the government. Now that’s what I want to know about. I don’t care what they think about the royal wedding. (More on that here.)

Here’s Kelly talking about her drug problem and how she turned her life around. She has Bride of Frankenstein hair and major bulimia face! It’s like she’s piling the hair up on her head to distract from her cheeks. You don’t get those chipmunk cheeks from normal weight gain, but I guess she’s looked like that for a while. Sharon’s face looks like a mask. How long until Kelly starts messing with hers too?

These photos are from 2/12/11. Credit: WENN.com

We’ve heard that Miley Cyrus’ parents have called off their divorce, with Miley’s dad Billy Ray “The Mullet” Cyrus saying on The View that he wants “to put my family back together.” Miley’s mom Tish has also put up a statement on her Facebook page about how happy she is to be reunited with The Mullet, writing “Our family weathered a huge storm and I feel we are stronger than we have ever been!” All of this comes after an interview The Mullet gave to GQ last month in which he very candidly talked about the fact that Miley’s fast track in the business was difficult for him and said point blank that Hanna Montana “destroyed my family.” He also talked about money issues to GQ, and said he was pulling in $15k a week playing his daughter’s dad on Hannah Montana vs. “the millions that they make,” adding that “everybody else was going to the bank.”

Well the Mullet has since reigned it in. He canceled some interviews after he said all that to GQ and now he’s going on the apology tour. He was on Good Morning America today, where he tried to backtrack and make nice. He also said that it was wrong of him to try and be Miley’s friend first and that he could have been a better dad. I thought that was pretty thoughtful of him, but this interview probably came after some serious pressure from Disney and his wife.

On how he was out of sorts when he gave that interview
I did that interview with GQ two weeks before Christmas…in the midst of a divorce, separated from my family. It was a mess. Surrounded in darkness. GQ, the writer, photographer showed up. And I kind of learned this, that doing an interview when you’re mad, is a whole lot like going to the grocery store when you’re hungry. It’s not a real good idea.”

Kissing Disney’s ass
I love my family more than anything in the world. My family extends out into the Disney family. I love the company. I love what they stand for.

On whether he’s backtracking
As far as convincing anybody of anything, I don’t have to do that. I just want to put my family back together.

On if Miley was upset with him after reading the article
I think we were all upset with me. It wasn’t good. What I meant to say and what I hope I said was, fame, the pressures of fame … fame can be a dangerous animal. And it’s a delicate thing. It’s funny. You know, when you get in this industry and … you strike so hard for that moment. But, fame is dangerous.

On if there are people in Miley’s life that don’t have her best interests at heart
Most of all Miley has a great heart. She’s very intelligent and she will make good choices

On when he was a friend instead of a dad
I look back on it and I know that I did kind of approach being a dad as a friend. I know that I could have done some things different… My kids need a dad and I can promise them that I’ll come back in and do the very best that I can do. I may be persecuted for saying it, but I still want to be Miley’s friend. I want to be the person that she comes to talk to. I just want her to trust and know that I love her more than life itself and I’ll be by her side for the good and bad. I’ll do my best to be a dad.

[From GMA, quotes online and from video above]

That’s really nice. You could tell that he took his time to get his head on straight before coming back and apologizing, and that he was well versed in what he wanted to say. He never mentioned his wife Tish at all and wanting to have a loving relationship with her, it was all about his “family” and his daughter, Miley. I get that Miley is the famous one and that all the focus is on her, but it seems like Billy Ray and Tish are getting back together for the sake of their kids, and not necessarily out of a deep commitment and love to each other. If Tish cheated with Brent Michaels as rumored I guess I don’t blame Billy Ray for not talking about her much.

Here are Billy Ray and Tish in June. They’re shown with their kids Trace, Brandi and Noah in March. Header image from March, 2009. Credit: WENN.com

Last October, Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Finley announced they were divorcing. It’s been chaos ever since, and the tabloids have been going over every dirty detail they could find about Billy Ray, Tish and Miley. Allegedly, Billy Ray was mad because Tish was maybe screwing around on him with Bret Michaels (and maybe somebody else too). There were fights about money. The other Cyrus children were “acting out” and Miley was videotaped smoking a bong. Then, last month, The Mullet sat down for an exhaustive and comprehensive interview with GQ Magazine (go here for our coverage) – he blamed himself for his family’s demise, he said he basically sold his kid to Disney, he talked about his failings as a man, and he made it sound like Miley wasn’t even speaking to him anymore. After that, things simmered down. Miley forced her dad to cancel some media appearances and The Mullet stopped talking so much. And now there’s another chapter to this ongoing mullet-y saga: Billy Ray is “dropping” the divorce!

How do you mend an achy breaky heart? Billy Ray Cyrus says he’s doing everything he can.

“I’ve dropped the divorce,” Cyrus, 49, said during an interview on The View scheduled to air on Friday. “I want to put my family back together … Things are the best they’ve ever been.”

“I feel like I got my Miley back,” he added during Thursday’s taping. “I feel like we’re the daddy and daughter we were before Hannah Montana.”

But the last few months have not been easy for Cyrus.

In October, he and wife Tish issued a joint statement announcing plans to end their 17-year marriage. A few months later, a startling video went viral of the couple’s daughter, Miley, smoking natural herb salvia out of a bong.

Then, in an unguarded interview with GQ, he blamed Hannah Montana for “destroying my family,” and said he felt Miley surrounded herself with people who put her “in a great deal of danger.”

At the time, Billy Ray also told PEOPLE he was doing everything he could to find family unity again, saying in an exclusive statement, “It is very important to me to work on mending my family right now.”

Even now, Cyrus still maintains his family would be in a better place if Miley didn’t become a celebrity.

“Hannah Montana didn’t ruin my family,” he said during the View taping Thursday. “Fame did.”

“Sometimes when you get in this ride,” he said, “you feel like you’re strapped to a rocket.”

[From People]

Do you buy this contrition? Is that even what The Mullet is aiming for? I do think The Mullet was emotionally blackmailing Tish and Miley with that GQ interview – he was letting them know that he wasn’t just going to fade away quietly, that if he was going, he was taking them with him. Well, he got what he wanted. Miley is now speaking to him again, and Tish must be gritting her teeth through this reconciliation. Ten bucks says that even though the divorce is being “dropped” that Tish and The Mullet still live in separate homes.

Photos courtesy of WENN & Fame.

Miley Cyrus’s drama with her father takes the covers of both Us Weekly and Star Magazine this week. We get an e-copy of Us Weekly as soon as it comes out, and last night I flipping through it when I stopped on the above layout. I mean… I love Us Weekly, and I think they’ve got good people working for them, but who gave the go ahead for this epic side-by-side? This is maybe the most inappropriate photo spread of Miley and Billy Ray, and that’s really saying something.

Anyway, the article is mostly a recap of previous Rogue Mullet stories that we’ve already covered – go here for his GQ article, and here for some of the fallout and breakdown. There are a couple of good quotes from insiders though:

A Disney source tells Us Weekly” “He totally pushed Miley into being a star!”

Another insider says Billy Ray is simply jealous of his daughter: “He was always upset he didn’t get as much attention as Miley. This is his way of stealing the spotlight.”

And yet other insiders claim that Billy Ray is just lashing out because he and Miley were already on the outs. “Billy Ray already had a huge fight with Miley over her behavior. She won’t talk to him anymore, so he sees no problem voicing his opinion to whomever will listen.”

Before Miley turned 18, Billy did little to rein in Miley, and according to one source, he even used to tip off the paparazzi about Miley’s whereabouts to ensure she’d get photographed.

[From Us Weekly, print edition]

Some more little pieces of information – Team Mullet says Tish lets Miley do whatever she wants too, while Team Miley says that Tish is the disciplinarian. Whatever. Even though I think this family is a train wreck, I also tend to want to give Miley a break. Yeah, her image is way too sexed up and provocative and she shouldn’t be drinking or drugging… but Jesus, what were you doing when you were 18?

Cover and screencap of the Us Weekly’s layout, courtesy of Us Weekly.

Well, it looks like Billy Ray Cyrus got hit with the Disney Hammer. Either that, or Miley has gift for getting her dad to shut his piehole. After Billy Ray went rogue in an extensive GQ interview, published last week, the repercussions are still being felt. Miley and her team seem to still be in damage-control mode, and Miley and Tish have been doing photo-ops, trying to convince us that all is well. Plus, The Mullet was forced to cancel his appearance on The View this week, with either Disney or his daughter pulling the strings. Now The Rogue Mullet has given a statement to People Magazine where he seems like he’s trying to walk back some of his more confrontational GQ comments:

Billy Ray Cyrus is trying to do right by his loved ones.

After telling PEOPLE in its new issue that fame “destroyed my family” – and revealing in another interview he was “scared” for daughter Miley, 18, – the country star says he’s looking inward.

“It is very important to me to work on mending my family right now,” Cyrus, 49, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive statement.

Calling his recent comments “explosive, and unintentionally so,” Cyrus says, “My family is the most important thing I have, and we are working together to make sure our future is stronger and healthier.”

Cyrus, who had retreated to his Tennessee farm and filed for divorce last fall, has been lately spending time in Los Angeles with wife Tish, 43, and youngest daughter Noah, 11.

“It is all a learning process, and we thank everyone for their support and respect of our privacy as we sort through very important family issues,” he says.

For more on Cyrus’s regrets, his hopes to repair his family, and Miley’s reaction to his comments, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

[From People]

So… he’s ringing the “privacy” bell? Now? Billy Ray and Miley have never cared about privacy. Ever.

My take on this situation, and this is just my theory, my opinion: I think Billy Ray was and is genuinely concerned for Miley, and he truly thinks the people around Miley are damaging her more than helping her. The Mullet’s problem is that the GQ interview reads in part like a father emotionally blackmailing his wayward daughter. Beyond the genuine concern for Miley, there is the lament and self-imposed martyrdom of a conservative father who can no longer exert any control on his wild daughter. The Mullet seemed to be attempting to control his daughter, or at least make some kind of impact on her negatively, out in the public sphere. Perhaps that was the only card he had left to play – he says in the interview that he and Miley haven’t been speaking much. My guess is that after the interview, Miley did contact him and that she’s the one calling many of the shots now, and that Billy is relenting and pulling back from his public comments now because he got what he wanted: more time with Miley.

UPDATE: Damn, I wrote this story before I saw Us Weekly’s cover story this week – Miley Cyrus has been “destroyed by Daddy”. Yep. Sounds about right.

Header courtesy of GQ, additional pics by WENN.

One of the biggest stories last week was Billy Ray Cyrus’s extensive interview with GQ, in which he bashed Disney and lamented his daughter Miley’s wild ways. Miley still hasn’t issued a formal statement on anything her dad said, although she and her mom Tish did step out for an “all is well” photo-op just hours after the GQ interview dropped. Now PopEater reports that the GQ piece was just the beginning of The Mullet’s media campaign – and Miley is not having it.

Billy Ray Cyrus certainly knows how to burn a bridge. First he angers his daughter Miley after comparing her to Anna Nicole Smith. Then he attacks Disney, saying ‘Hannah Montana’ destroyed his family. Now he goes and upsets TV legend Barbara Walters after his daughter forced him to drop out of a scheduled interview on ‘The View’ this week.

“When Miley found out her father was scheduled to appear on ‘The View’ on Wednesday she went nuts,” a family friend tells me. “Only last week Billy shot his mouth off in GQ, and now he planned to sit down with the [Barbara and Whoopi] and talk more crap about his family. No way would Miley or her team let that happen.”

The GQ interview started off a firestorm after Billy Ray’s bombshell that he feels isolated from his daughter, blaming everyone but himself. “I’m scared for her,” he said in the interview. “She’s got a lot of people around her that’s putting her in a great deal of danger. I want to get her sheltered from the storm.”

Billy Ray’s comments had come out of nowhere, leaving everyone, including Miley, to wonder why her dad had decided to go public with private family matters.

“At first Miley defended her dad wanting to believe he had been tricked into saying bad things by the magazine,” an insider with knowledge of situation tells me. “Miley truly wanted to give her father the benefit of the doubt, goodness knows she’s said things she wishes she could take back. But after she found out about his media trip to New York no more excuses could be made.”

True, you don’t accidentally end up as a guest on ‘The View.’ That is a heavily planned event! Billy Ray’s representative confirmed to me that his trip to NYC had been canceled, at least for now.

[From PopEater]

I have two theories: One, Miley finally called her father and told him to quiet down. Or two, Miley called her management and screamed “CODE RED, THE MULLET IS GOING ROGUE!!” But seriously, she probably called Billy Ray and convinced him that she’s fine… for now. From what I remember of the GQ piece (’m pulling from memory, because I don’t want to reread that six page epic diatribe again) is that The Mullet is promoting his new album…? So, yes, he probably had more media appearances planned, in service of promoting his album. But all anyone would want to talk about would be Miley and how The Mullet thinks Jesus doesn’t approve of salvia.

These are pics of Miley yesterday. Seriously, her face is just filling out, don’t call her fat.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

The Mullet Speaketh. To GQ. Billy Ray Cyrus has given his first big post-split interview after the drama with his estranged wife Tish (and perhaps Bret Michaels). I honestly have a twinge of sympathy for The Mullet. I think he got cuckolded (I’m trying to bring back old-timey terminology), and I think the pain of it still stings. Anyway, the interview takes place in The Mullet’s old, rambling Tennessee home, where The Mullet has been living alone, post-split. He doesn’t even want to turn the lights on for guests. It’s a surprisingly good read! The full piece is here, and here are the highlights:

The Mullet is nostalgic: “My kids learned to color on this table. There’s been a lot that’s went around this table. Waylon Jennings sat right there in that chair and showed Miley the chords to ‘Good Hearted Woman.’ Sitting in that chair. This table’s a bit like life. It’s a circle. And I believe everything in life is a circle. You come into this world a little teeny wrinkled-up fetus…”

The Mullet on Miley-money rumors: “I’m proud to say to this day I’ve never made one commissioned dollar, or dime, off of my daughter.”

Battling against Miley‘s controversies: “Every time something happened in Miley’s career, every time the train went off the track, if you will—Vanity Fair,2 pole-dancing,3 whatever scandal it was—her people, or as they say in today’s news, her handlers, every time they’d put me… ‘Somebody’s shooting at Miley! Put the old man up there!’ Well, I took it, because I’m her daddy, and that’s what daddies do. ‘Okay, nail me to the cross, I’ll take it….’ All those people around, they used me every time. It became so obvious that, man, no matter what happens, they’re going to put you up there and let you take the bullet

Why he chose not to attend her 18th birthday party: “Because they were having it in a bar. It was wrong. It was for 21 year olds and up. Once again all them people, they all wanted me to fly out so that then when all the bad press came they could say, ‘Daddy endorsed this stuff.…’ If I would have went out there I would have been right in the middle of all this stuff that’s going on right now with the bong.”

On David Lynch: “Were it not for David Lynch,” Cyrus asserts, “Miley would never have been Hannah Montana.” The most wildly incongruent item in Billy Ray Cyrus’s CV is his appearance in David Lynch’s 2001 movie Mulholland Dr. Cyrus is smart enough to know that to a certain kind of audience this will count firmly in his favor, and has likewise learned that a sound bite like “were it not for David Lynch…” will always get quoted in an interview like this. (The slightly tenuous reasoning: If not for Lynch’s leg up, Cyrus might not have spent four years in Toronto starring in the uplifting, moral TV medical drama Doc, in which his daughter Miley would get early opportunities to guest-star…and so on.)

On Hannah Montana: Still, the acting role for which he is now most famous is as a teenage pop star’s father, a part he says he only took to support his daughter. “I knew I was working for peanuts. I’m not the smartest man in the world, but I know the difference. I went from $12,000 a week to, after four years and the millions that they make, $15,000 a week. Hell, yeah.”

After the first two seasons he felt things changing. “The business was driving a wedge between us,” he says. He tells me that he has never been able to discipline his kids and that he now wonders whether that was a mistake. “How many interviews did I give and say, ‘You know what’s important between me and Miley is I try to be a friend to my kids’? I said it a lot. And sometimes I would even read other parents might say, ‘You don’t need to be a friend, you need to be a parent.’ Well, I’m the first guy to say to them right now: You were right. I should have been a better parent. I should have said, ‘Enough is enough—it’s getting dangerous and somebody’s going to get hurt.’ I should have, but I didn’t. Honestly, I didn’t know the ball was out of bounds until it was way up in the stands somewhere.”

On the Mullet: “It started way before me,” he points out. “David Bowie rocked a heck of a mullet long before I did.” Cyrus’s contribution, if that is the word, was to popularize the extreme version where the hair clipped short at the front and the hair cascading past the back of the neck seem to belong to two entirely separate hairstyles. “I read that I have the distinct honor of creating the Kentucky Waterfall,” he notes. “I think that’s a pretty good name for it. Though I do love the Missouri Compromise.”

On trying to help Miley through her controversies: “You know what, there’s no doubt I did stuff when I was a teenager that I’m sure could have turned out horribly,” he agrees. “I’ve done some stupid crap—I do stupid crap. We all do. But it’s different when you sit back and you see it happening to your little girl. I feel like I got to try. It’s my daughter. And some of these handlers are perhaps more interested in handling Miley’s money than her safety and her career.”

On Hannah Montana’s impact on his family: “Oh, it’s huge—it destroyed my family. I’ll tell you right now—the damn show destroyed my family. And I sit there and go, ‘Yeah, you know what? Some gave all.’ It is my motto, and guess what? I have to eat that one. I some-gave-all’d it all right. I some-gave-all’d it while everybody else was going to the bank. It’s all sad.”

Wishing it had never happened: “I hate to say it, but yes, I do. Yeah. I’d take it back in a second. For my family to be here and just be everybody okay, safe and sound and happy and normal, would have been fantastic. Heck, yeah. I’d erase it all in a second if I could.”

[From GQ]

The Mullet even has a Kurt Cobain story – it’s a sweet one that made me like Kurt Cobain more. He compares Miley to Kurt – thankfully not musically. He compares her to Kurt in the “everybody can see the train wreck” way. He’s very grandiose, the Mullet. He also talks about God and Jesus and the Devil and God’s Way, and there’s some New Age stuff thrown in too – I don’t think he has a God Complex, I just think he considers himself a man of faith, and his convoluted understanding of his faith has lead him to do strange things. But this was seriously not the interview I was expecting – it’s interesting to think The Mullet is in a position to disavow the Disney machine that has made his daughter a millionaire hundreds of times over.

Header photo courtesy of GQ. Additional pic by WENN.

Yesterday, TMZ “broke” the story that Miley Cyrus is pretty much one of us. A friend of Miley’s (some friend) sold/gave TMZ a video of Miley smoking a bong on or around her 18th birthday, even though TMZ’s sources claim that Miley was smoking “salvia” – which is legal. I kind of thought she was smoking weed, but it’s debatable. By the way, if it was salvia, Radar’s experts claim that stuff has the same effect as LSD. I don’t know about you, but I would rather take a hit off of the gravity bong then trip my (metaphoric) balls off again. Anyway, the video was all over the place on Friday, even the news networks. So I guess The Mullet finally got a chance to see it, and boy was he “sad” about it. From Billy Ray’s Twitter:

[Spoketh The Mullet]

Eh. He’s “so sad.” Okay. I would also accept “disappointed” but really, is this the end of the world? I think if I was Miley’s father (shudder), I would be more upset about her constant cooter-flashing (on stage). Here’s what I think is really giving The Mullet a major case of The Sads: “There is much beyond my control right now.” Yes, The Mullet can no longer “control” his little girl. He no longer tells her who to date and who to hang out with and when to work and when to flash her cooter on stage. The Mullet has learned a valuable lesson today!

Ever since Us Weekly’s re-reporting of Star Magazine’s initial accusation – that Tish Finley-Cyrus had an affair with Bret Michaels – I’ve been wondering if we’d ever hear Billy Ray Cyrus’s side of what went down. I was imagining something Lohan-esque (dysfunctional, rage-filled), but I didn’t think the story would end up sounding… straight out of the Lohan play-book. According to the Enquirer, when Billy Ray discovered Tish’s infidelity, it was quite the aggressive shouting match. I guess I should give The Mullet some credit though – it looks like it was just shouting. If Tish really was f-cking Bret Michaels (which Bret denied), then what did Tish think was going to happen? Oh, but guess what the real ugliness was about, though? Money. And Miley. And which one of them got access to Money/Miley.

Out of his mind with rage, BILLY RAY CYRUS furiously tried to kick down the door of his estranged wife TISH’s bedroom as she sobbed uncontrollably and one of their children cowered, terrified, nearby.

That was the explosive scene during a brutal fight at the couple’s Los Angeles home that led to the Cyrus’ ugly $100 million divorce battle, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.

“Billy screamed terrible things at Tish,” divulged an insider. “he accused her of having affairs, including one with Bret Michaels. He screamed that she was a bad parent. Then he started kicking in the door.”

The confrontation erupted after Billy Ray tried to ground his superstar daughter MiILEY for talking back to him, and Tish intervened, the insider continued. After learning that Tish had undermined him and given Miley permission to go out, Billy Ray went berserk with anger.

“Tish locked herself in her bedroom to escape Billy Ray’s wrath. And he pounded on the door screaming: ‘Come out here and talk to me, b****! You let everyone run wild when I’m not here! It’s going to STOP!’”

The insider said Tish sobbed hysterically and shot back: “You’re making me (bleeping) crazy, Billy Ray. Go back to Tennessee, all you ever do is make everybody miserable!”

Miley and her brother Braison, 16, were not home during the terrifying battle. But the couple’s daughter Noah was, and she was ushered out of the home by a housekeeper during the melee. The violent fight happened this summer, say sources, and it was the last straw for Billy Ray, who afterward left the family’s LA home for the Cyrus Ranch in Tennessee.

Billy Ray’s publicist denies the brawl took place, but sources say that the incident drove a wedge between Bill and Miley. Tish is now managing Miley’s career, and the two women are very close.

“Miley loves her dad and wants peace in the family. She wants everybody together for her birthday – but she’s done with him being a part of her life full-time,” the insider added.

In addition to initiating divorce proceedings, Billy Ray also received a temporary restraining order, which prevents both he and Tish from depleting their considerable assets.

Meanwhile, Billy has his sights set on a musical comeback. “He resents that Miley’s turned on him after everything he’s done for her career… he’s also jealous of being eclipsed by her success.”

[From The National Enquirer, print & online edition]

Just. Like. The Lohans. Except Dina wasn’t f-cking her way through a hair band (that we know of). I buy this story because even though Miley publicly stated that she “wasn’t taking sides” in her parents’ divorce, she stepped out for a few photo ops with Tish, and you can just tell she’s closer to her mom (momager, ugh). I also think it’s true because the mullet has made it’s triumphant return at the CMAs – I do think Billy Ray is trying to get himself a comeback. And he just seems like a bitter man.

Bret Michaels was on Fox & Friends yesterday to promote his new VH1 reality show, Life As I Know It. One of the first questions he was asked was whether he was having an affair with Tish Cyrus, Miley’s mom. Miley’s parents Billy Ray and Tish just filed for divorce last month after 17 years of marriage. There were rumors earlier this year that Bret had an affair with Tish around the time that he released a duet with Miley in February. He denied those rumors through his rep at the time, and on Fox & Friends Bret made it clear that he was “just friends” with Miley’s mom.

Don’t blame Bret Michaels.

The rocker denied rumors that he had an affair with Miley Cyrus’s mother, Tish, who last month split from Billy Ray Cyrus after 17 years of marriage.

When asked on Fox & Friends if he’d had an affair with Tish, Michaels replied, “The answer is no.”

“I’ve been friends with her family forever,” Michaels added. “It started out with me and Miley simply working on a song together. Her mom, Tish, likes “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” the first concert Miley ever saw was Poison, and so they wanted to remake it for the new record.”

Reports surfaced last week that the Poison frontman was the possible cause behind the Cyrus divorce. Last month, Billy Ray filed divorce papers in Tennessee citing irreconcilable differences.

Michaels insists his involvement with the Cyrus family has been strictly professional. “When I was in the studio, Miley came in and sang on my song … and that was it,” he said.

As for how Miley’s taking her parents’ divorce? A source close to the singer told PEOPLE last week, “she’s trying to keep everything private while her family works through this.”

[From People]

I didn’t find Michaels’ denial all that convincing because he went on at length about how he knew the Cyruses. It felt like he was deflecting from the question, but maybe he thought that background was needed for context. I get the vibe that something happened but that Tish told Bret that her marriage was already over or something like that. Michaels seems like a man slut with some small amount of integrity (although I’m sure my opinion would change if I watched any of his dating shows), but it’s not like he’s going to say “yes, I did fool around with Tish a few times. I thought she was separated.” He sort-of denied it, and then he swiftly moved on.