When I first heard Miley Cyrus, AKA Hannah Montana, apologize for the photos in Vanity Fair, I thought she might have been a girl taken advantage of by the magazine or the photographer. She said in a published statement, “I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic,’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed,” Miley, the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, told the press this week. “I never intended for any of this to happen, and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about.”
Poor little girl, I thought, until I saw the cover shot taken by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz that shows the girl in profile clutching a blanket to her chest with her back bare. Miley posed for the picture, but had no idea that it might be a bit sexy? Come on. One does not take off her clothes in a room full of people and not have an inkling that maybe that was going just a bit too far.
It has been reported that the questionable photos were shot after Miley’s parents left the site of the photo shoot, but there were other people there who were supposed to be looking out for the girl’s best interest. What were they thinking. Not only is this whole mess a huge blemish on the sweet, innocent image Disney has tried to maintain for Hannah Montana, who in their right mind would let a young teenage girl assume such a grown up pose?
Commentary that I have read in the newspapers and on the Web suggest that this whole fiasco may have been a marketing move gone wrong. I tend to agree. And now the scramble is on to see if anything can be salvaged from the mess.