Disney Star in Damage Control Mode Over VF Photos

LOS ANGELES, April 28:
Miley Cyrus, the 15-year-old star of the Disney Channel hit Hannah Montana, has issued an apology after posing for semi-nude
photos for Vanity Fair magazine,
in a shoot coordinated by acclaimed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz.

The pictures show Cyrus
apparently wrapped only in a bed sheet. The shots appear in the June issue of Vanity
Fair and began making the rounds
on the Internet and on television entertainment news magazines over the
weekend, raising the ire of parents of some of her young fans.

In a statement released
yesterday, Cyrus said: “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. I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my
fans who I care so deeply about.”

Disney Channel, too, is
faulting Vanity Fair for the
photos: Patti McTeague, a Disney spokeswoman, is quoted in the New York
Times as saying: “Unfortunately,
as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a
15-year-old in order to sell magazines.”

In the Vanity Fair article, Cyrus reportedly says: “Annie took, like,
a beautiful shot, and I thought it was really cool. That’s what she wanted me
to do, and you can’t say no to Annie.” She also said of the photo, “I think
it’s really artsy. It wasn’t in a skanky way.”

The Times cites Beth Kseniak, a spokeswoman for both Vanity
Fair and Leibovitz, with the
following response: “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.”

—By Mansha Daswani