Miley Cyrus Gets The Picture

It must be tough being a 15-year-old superstar trying to show your maturity while working for the Walt Disney Co.

Vanity Fair has an excellent profile of Miley Cyrus, star of the Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana," in which she's called "the biggest child start since Shirley Temple, give or take a couple of Macaulay Culkin movies, or an Olsen twin." She seems very grounded to me.

Yes, she says "Sex and the City" is her favorite show, which probably didn't make Disney folks happy. But she also loves "I Love Lucy." She also reveals that she keeps in touch with Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, so maybe they've given her advice on how not to crash and burn. And she says she relies on her parents – mom Tish and dad Billy ray Cyrus – to keep her in line.

Obviously the photos by Annie Leibovitz (some with her dad) are another attempt to grow up a little. She now says she regrets the controversial photos, one of her topless wrapped in a sheet.

Here’s what the says in Vanity Fair about the pictures: "I think it's really artsy. It wasn't in a skanky way... and you can't say no to Annie. She's so cute."

Here's what she says now, according to ABC News: "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."

The Disney Channel has chimed in with: "Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines."

Art or embarrassment? You can judge. Read the story at
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/06/miley200806?currentPage=2

The story has a link to the "Tween Angel" gallery of 18 photos, though it's not working now.

What do you think?