What has photog done
to our Hannah Montana?

Robyn’s Hood
By Robyn McCloskey

I must admit that I was never much of a Billy Ray Cyrus fan. His 1992 cross-over country hit Achy Breaky Heart, his business-in-the-front, party-in-the-back mullet, his cocky swagger and the shirts with sleeves cut off — it just never did much for me.
But I gained a newfound respect for the man when his daughter, the adorable Miley Cyrus, became a household name. The Hannah Montana Show, the star vehicle that catapulted the young Ms. Cyrus to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen bank-account status, and also permits dad Billy Ray to share the spotlight, captures his unconditional love and devotion to the second of his six children.
In the Disney TV show and in real life, he comes off as a dad who celebrates the mere existence of all his kids.
As far as show-business dads go, he’s no Joe Jackson (as in Michael’s pop) . . . thankfully. So I can only imagine the regret Billy Ray now feels for entrusting his precious daughter to the hands of pop culture magazine Vanity Fair and famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz.
The very same photographer who took pictures of a nude and pregnant Demi Moore for Vanity Fair and the provocative photos of a naked John Lennon curled up beside a clothed Yoko Ono for Rolling Stone magazine.
Which is fine, if you are a consenting adult calling the shots, but Miley Cyrus is not. This may help explain the photographs of her taken by Ms. Leibovitz, in which the teen appears topless, covered only in a bed sheet and seeming much too mature for her own good.
Interestingly enough, it wasn’t too long ago that Ms. Leibovitz took a couple of famous portraits of the Queen of England, fully dressed (for which we all are appreciative). In a BBC documentary chronicling a year in the life of Her Majesty, this same photo shoot is caught on camera.
Annie Leibovitz famously asks the queen to remove her crown. The queen famously refuses, but not without a socially awkward moment when it appears that Queen Elizabeth is taken aback a bit by such a request. Seems the queen has been around long enough to know that you can just say no to the powerful and influential photographer, even if it takes a minute to gather the chutzpah to do so. Because no matter how powerful and influential Annie Leibovitz may be, being the queen trumps being the photographer.
After the recent fallout of the inappropriate Miley Cyrus pictures, Miley was quoted as saying, "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."
Unfortunately, Annie Leibovitz asked Miley Cyrus to remove more than just a crown from her head. Even more unfortunate, it seems Ms. Cyrus felt she couldn’t refuse the request. Apparently, being a teen pop sensation doesn’t trump being the adult in the situation. And from the moment these pictures became public, Disney and Team Miley have been in overdrive, trying to buff away the tarnish that the Leibovitz photos put on Miley’s image.
It’s damage that the photog is reticent to admit. "I’m sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted," Leibovitz said amid the brouhaha. "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."
Nothing like a 59-year-old woman passing the blame on a 15-year-old kid. With her years on this planet, as a person and as a professional, Annie should know better. She should be protecting children, not exploiting them.
Giving the green light to Vanity Fair may not have been Billy Ray Cyrus’ finest parenting moment, but in the words of his daughter and her hit song, Nobody’s Perfect:
Everybody makes mistakes
Everybody has those days
Everybody knows what I’m talking’ ’bout
Everybody gets that way
Nobody’s perfect
I gotta work it
Again and again til I get it right
Nobody’s perfect
You live and you learn it
And if I mess up sometimes
Nobody’s perfect
They are words we should offer at this time for Miley and her dad. And yes, even for Annie, with or without an apology, with or without the maturity to take responsibility. Which may be Annie Liebovitz’s most achy breaky mistake yet. ••
Robyn McCloskey’s column appears each week in the Northeast Times. She can be reached at crmccloskey@verizon.net