Billy Ray Cyrus Grilled on Miley’s Vanity Fair Shoot

"Stuff happens. That's life."

Billy Ray Cyrus had a simple answer to questions about his daughter's controversial Vanity Fair photo shoot when grilled about it once again on NBC's 'Today Show.' The country star says he wasn't there when 15-year-old Miley was photographed draped in a sheet, with her bare back facing the camera. But he's not placing blame on anyone, rather viewing it as a life lesson.

"(Miley's) publicist was there, and everyone seemed in control," he said. "I didn't know they (were) gonna strip her down and wrap her with a blanket . . . So I was surprised when I saw it, but stuff happens. That's life. Sometimes things get a little out of control and you just gotta deal with life. It's peaks and valleys and ups and downs."
While some are pointing fingers at the photographer, Annie Leibovitz, Cyrus isn't bitter. He calls her "a good person and a great photographer." And he admits, he should have stayed to supervise the shoot. But one criticism Cyrus doesn't understand is of another picture in the Vanity Fair spread that shows Miley in a midriff-baring tank top, laying across her dad's lap with her head on his arm.

"It's not a mistake to me," Cyrus said of the photo. "If it is to someone else, I'm sorry if I offended somebody, but no, that's just a daddy that loves his daughter a whole lot . . . We got caught up in this adventure that we've gone through with this dream, and what we do for a living. ... We both love acting, we love making music and we love each other. I'm her dad and she's my daughter, so if a daddy hasn't hugged his daughter recently, I'd recommend he does."

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