Miley Cyrus’ Vanity Fair Don’t?
It seems like we are constantly reading headlines about sex tapes, nude photos and provocative magazine spreads, and this weeks it’s Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus’ turn. Last week, photos from the new issue of Vanity Fair were released and one picture in particular caught people’s attention. The photo shows the Disney Channel’s Miley Cyrus sitting topless with a silk sheet like piece of cloth wrapped around her. 
Now, Cyrus is feeling the heat because as soon as the pictures surfaced there was a frenzy among the media and the blogosphere. Miley soon released a statement saying that she was embarrassed about the photos and the interview:
“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.”
I’m sure Miley hoped this statement was sufficient enough for Disney and her fans to forgive her and things to quickly go back to normal like it did for fellow Disney star Vanessa Hudgens, but unfortunately for Miley that may not be the case.
Disney is not happy with the photo scandal, but they are taking Miley’s side and blaming Vanity Fair, instead. A Disney rep made this statement:
“Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines,”
This has become a tough situation for Miley and Disney because Vanity Fair, and Annie Leibovitz the photographer for the shoot, have chosen to put up a fight and they are defending their position and making a point to explain to people that during the shoot Miley and her parents seemed pleased with the photos. The magazine released this statement:
“Miley’s parents and/or minders were on the set all day,” the magazine said. “Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley.”
To make matters even worse, the magazine also released this statement made by Miley Cyrus, while on the photo shoot set:
“I think it’s really artsy…It wasn’t in a skanky way. Annie took, like, a beautiful shot, and I thought that was really cool. That’s what she wanted me to do, and you can’t say no to Annie.”
Now, Miley must eat her words because her stories don’t quite match up. It doesn’t look good on her part that one minute she’s talking about how tasteful and beautiful the pictures are and then the next, after the media and fans have shown disapproval, she is horrified and embarrassed by the pictures and article.
I’m not sure who is at fault here. It could be:
1. Miley’s parents/PR rep for not telling her not to take the pictures and warning her that if she did this might happen.
2. Vanity Fair for, possibly strategically, pairing the photos with an interview talking about Miley’s favorite show being Sex and The City. Allegedly, the article quotes Miley saying, ”[Sex & The City] It’s my favorite show! I love it!”.
3. Disney for not monitoring their stars’ actions more closely, because its reputation takes a hit every time its teen celebrities make bad decisions, like this one in particular.
It seems today there is a fine line between what’s acceptable and what’s not when it comes to teens and sex or sexuality. Miley is catching heat for taking half-nude pictures when she is supposed to be a role model for her millions of young fans. Gossip Girl’s new ads were too sexy and offensive. Vanessa Hudgens, of Disney’s High School Musical, had nude photos leaked. All of these events created outrage and disapproval from many people.
However, on Desperate Housewives there have been multiple instances where older female, adult characters were portrayed having affairs with younger, teenage boy characters still in high school, and no one seemed to be bothered by that being on TV almost on a weekly basis.
There is a fine line between what’s acceptable and what’s taboo, and it’s very hard to figure out where that line is or whether or not it’s been crossed until it’s too late. Poor Miley Cyrus is finding this out the hard way.
*Photos provided by Vanity Fair- Featured in an ABC News article and Google Images.
Filed under: Celebrities | 2 Comments
Even though Miley Cyrus probably felt pressured from the magazine or her parents, she should have known that is was wrong to do. Something should have come over her telling her this is “too much”. 15 is way too young to pose half naked in a magazine, whether you’re famous or not.
I also feel as if Miley has contradicted herself. Now that the media and her fans are all over her, she feels as if she has to come up with a believable story that will defend her reasoning for participating in the shoot. As stated in the blog, Disney rep quoted: “Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines,” but plead to differ. First and foremost, why will a 15-year-old take pictures of that nature anyway? The picture is beautiful but that doesn’t make it appropriate for someone her age or someone who is a role model to MANY kids/teenagers. I also agree with the role that should’ve taken place by the PR agents and family. Obviously no one warned her about the consequences. No matter what the shoot was originally for, this doesn’t limit the photographer to whom they send it to. I wish that this wouldn’t have happened because I have small siblings who look up to her and I would hate for them to think this type of behavior is appropriate from a teenager. This was a poor decision and now she has to live with the consequences.
~Brittany Devezin~