Annie Leibovitz Is Sorry Her Miley Cyrus Art Was 'Misinterpreted'

I agree, these photos go too far.

let it be known that if I ever have a daughter there is NO WAY she's ever getting photographed this way at age 15

I am incredibly disappointed in Billy Ray for agreeing to this.

she posed for the pics so this whole "i was manipulated" line she's using is just ridiculous. & her parents were there! holy inappropriateness! now that you realize you are posing for shots a little too racy for your age you suddenly have to find a scapegoat. what about the pics from her myspace of her exposing her bra & laying on that guy?....who's to blame for that? i would never let my daughter pose in a half naked shot at 15!! and that whole "it was supposed to be artsy" excuse is so played out...isnt that what they all when say when nude shots surface???

i bet you her dad is just like jessica simpsons..if not worse

Forget the backless shot. What about the one with her laying in her father's lap in a seductive way? That is GROSS. I can guarantee you that I've never had my elbow anywhere near my father's crotch.

You can't "Misinterpret" something illegal, she sounds like one of the guys that gets caught by Chris Hanson on Dateline! Seriously shes a minor in a picture that suggests nudity, as well as other adult content therefore it's child pornography. And even if her parents okay'd doesn't make it any less illegal. Everyone involved including people who keep posting this picture could be charged with posession of child porn and VF/Anne Lebovitz are the producers of child porn! SHAME SHAME!

How sad that you have become like Britney Spears. At least she was an adult when she turned into a slut.

This lady is not an artist the only reason she became famous is because she got lucky and ended up with the last pic of john lennon and yoko ono. If it hadn't been the last pic of them she never would have made it big. BOTH of her parents are just as responsible and now that the mother is aware of the inappropriate relationship with her father she should take that into consideration. It's absolutely disgusting that the only reason she hasn't been removed from the home is because of their status in society. If the children that were taken from the polygamist compound in Tx had posed for a pic in this way it would have been considered porn so why is it art for a rich white girl to pose naked and inappropriately with her father. She did have the right to refuse to take those pics but it was her parents and the people at Vanity Fair that crossed the line. They failed to protect this child. Disney should fire her and quit airing the show, but I know they wont because Disney isn't what it was, now Disney is a money greedy company that would hire girls who pose naked just like that slut from High School Musical. I'm not only disappointed in Miley and her family, but also with Vanity Fair and the so called artist who shot the photos and with Disney. This just shows how societies morals have disappaited throughout the years.

This poor little girl looks very uncomfortable and like she is looking to her parents to get her out of the situation. Her parents aren't in this shot but they are on the side lines however they don't see their daughter they only see dollar signs.

"Misinterpreted" ??? Well then tell us Annie Leibovitz, how should we interpret this photo What 1000 words is this picture worth?

lol This is what people are freaking out about? People this is sad. Leave the poor girl alone and stop throwing around the slut word because you’re making yourself sound ignorant. First of all the way you make it sound it like she did a centerfold for playboy. Second she is 15 years old and a celebrity so thank god this is all she does. Third with all the media’s infiltration into her life it’s not surprising that she does something shocking once in a while. God you’re putting way too much effort into something this small. She is completely covered. Her back is exposed which is common nowadays even dresses have a fully exposed back. So from now on unless she comes out in a Modana photo shoot leave the 15-year-old alone. One last thing about this survey on my left this isn't child porn or art.

my god they are making to much commotion for this picture, its classy, shes not showing anything, girls wear less than this in the summertime, and im sure half of your daughters out there have worn a dress with a low back like this, everything is covered for gods sake, leave the girl alone

Um ... there's no misinterpreting this.

Miley Cyrus has three target demographics: tweens, teens, and pedophiles.

The intent of these pictures was to sell magazines to creepy older men who wanted to have a racy picture of Miley Cyrus to look at while they masturbate.

Period.

Nobody over the age of 20 could possibly think differently, certainly not Billy Ray nor Annie Leibovitz. Billy Ray whored out his daughter to Vanity Fair and Annie Leibovitz had no compunction about shooting the pics.

this is gross!!!
2 see miley all posed over her dad like that!!!
eeewwww!!! WTF!!!

SHE WAS MY BIGGEST FAN EVER

she looks evil in these photos. eew

you know wereing something like its supposed to be worn like a dress, that stays on by its self, and having to hold something up to cover you are two way different things. so yeah dont call her a slut cause shes not, but honestly its a matter of morals and who wants to see a picture like this of a once,thought of as, innocent girl. you know if you just let it go its gonna get worse so we can't. and why should we not be suprised that she would do this. you know regular people, the ones who make a living out of hard work, dont do this every day so why should movie stars they are just people with a different talent than others. Billy Ray is crazy why isn't he apologizing? i want to see a recored video of them alplogizing. and just because "everybody else is doing it" doesn't make it right. its a matter of morals, not art, which this most certainly isn't. and who would want to look atthese pictures anyway they arent appealing she looks sick and evil slightly, in her eyes.

she was misslead by those who were supposed to be wanting the best for her. namely Billy Ray. and i hope this never happens again dont get cocky.

Shes Frickin 15 come on! do you have to start out so young?!

u slutty hore i was one of ur biggest fans and now i see all u r is a stupid retarded hore wait till word gets out u will be the hatedest people aroud

she looks kinda creepy in this picture.It' kinda like she was going to bite someone.My brother's pit bull give that look when someone she doesn't know comes around the yard.Make up is amazing!

I love how people have been calling her a whore yet claiming to have been her fans. So obviously they are about the same age as she is and son't know the difference. I personally feel that there is nothing wrong with this photo. She isn't showing anything. Take a look at the other vanity fair spreads some of the pictures are way worse than this and nobody calls those girls whores. I don't think the picture is very flattering to her but other than that there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. I am a fan, over the age of 17(a few years over), and I don't think she is a whore.

The New York Post and I gather plenty of other news outlets went wild with this non-story about a 15-year-old star photographed by portrait master Leibovitz with her shoulder and part of her back exposed.

It is being characterized as veritable kiddie porn; her family is ‘mortified’; though you can hear the laughter as the Magic Kingdom, home of her billion dollar entertainment empire, goes through its appearances of moral spasms of shock and outrage. Miley, for those unhip as myself who needed to Wiki her, plays a normal girl who moonlights as a rock star. Leave it to Disney to create a virgin rocker. Then she has her portrait done and the war in Iraq evaporates.

The Miley scandal is not a relevant version of the truth: the episode, in addition to sending up a smoke screen, is one vast public relations boon for Disney, who rather than attempting to purify its magnificent gleam is decorating its enterprises with a few tons of free ink. And do we think the Vanity Fair production manager called the print plant yesterday ordering up a few hundred thousand more copies for good measure?

One huge lie being propagated, regardless of who profits, is that a teenage young adults are asexual, or that it’s somehow inappropriate to represent them as sexual even though it’s done all the time. This is like freebasing denial, particularly if we care enough to help them stay healthy and unpregnant. Go ahead, teach them abstinence, then watch what happens in the onslaught of hormones. It seems like we have projected so much sexuality onto young people, and fetishized the appearances of youth, that we now feel a need as a culture to strip it off with a sandblaster.

Furthermore, the world seems to have a need for Miley not to grow up. To me this is the psychic, media-driven version of that Austrian guy who locked his daughter in the basement, taking total possession of her. Here, the world seems to need to lock Miley in the basement and never allow her to become Destiny Hope Cyrus, the mature woman.

Scandals are scams. They are never what they are about. Deeper down they are always about repression. If there is a grain of truth to them, it’s usually employed to seed the greater lie. If you look closely enough, or look in the opposite direction (perhaps within), sometimes you can see a little gleam of light.

Eric Francis

PS. I just went down for coffee and the Sally Brompton horoscope and encountered an explanation of just what is going on with Miley, courtesy of the profound social criticism of the New York Post, my third favorite newspaper. To wit, Todd Venezia writes, “The young Cyrus and photo diva Leibovitz have created an international firestorm with Vanity Fair pics showing the all-American Tennessee girl with a bare back, turgid lips and suggestively tussled hair — all while being wrapped in nothing more than a piece of cloth.”

excuse me people, but you guys are so stupid, she is wearing pants, she isn't naked, go look at the pics from the photo shoot on google, she is clothed, it just doesn't look like it because she has her arms wrapped around her body. i don't personally like her music, but you guys have no reason to lash out like this and call her a whore... k, thanks, bye

Your all idiots i would do whatever Annie told me to do if she would photograph me, it's art, and if you think it's not I guess Michelangelo's David is a Whore as well.

As we long have known, art is subjective. If this photo was an oil painting from the year 1790, we’d certainly all consider it art. It might even be up in the Louvre. Fifteen year olds back then were often married– and not considered kids anymore. There was certainly no talk of tweens and teens back then.

As I said on my own parenting blog, we have impressionable faces looking up to stars like Miley for inspiration and motivation. Miley, a symbol of youth and fun, is not a sex symbol– so seeing her in this way is jarring. It just doesn’t fit.

Her fans think of her as their best friend, girl next door, and big sister they never had. The girl next door doesn’t do these things. But what added to the shock of the photo was its juxtaposition with the photo of her and her Dad. It made people feel uncomfortable and shifty. The girl is covered in a sheet in one shot and lying around on her Dad’s lap in another. If she were 2 years old, it would have been cute; at fifteen, it seems a bit creepy to many.

So is it art? If it were someone else at a different time or of Miley in about 10 years, people would have appreciated it a lot more. It would have been considered a beautiful shot. But today, with the baggage that comes along with every click of the camera, and with little 8-13 year olds watching with baited breath unready to process it all, it crossed an inappropriate line. It was a mistake.

Dr. Robyn Silverman

hey miley u look alsome and i don't know why every body say that you are ugly when you are really pretty

Miley, What were you thinking? There is enough trash out there with the likes of britney and madonna.Better yet what was your father or mother thinking when they gave permission to vanity to print these pictures or to let there 15 year old daughter pose for this? They are leading you down the wrong path of life and for what? the money? what a shame.

Porn, no. Just extremely bad taste for a young girl.

I have no idea what Ms. Leibovitz was thinking when she shot the photo of Miley with her father. And, he clearly hasn't a clue.

I'm sure pediphiles of America did.

u people need to keep ur head out off the gutter come on now it's her father.

you no miley people like you 4 no reason because i think you are really just an idiot

my loves 4 u.....
NOT

well i just think that the entertainment bussness is trying to turn her in to the next britney spears even though this is wrong they should still be smart and not do it to runi her caree

this is NOT slutty!
it's just a photo!
this isn't like a porn picture, it's not even revealing. it's like seeing a girl at the beach in her bikini. get a life, people.

that's not seductive in the least bit.
she's just sitting with her father.
once again, GET A LIFE.

Vanity Fair should be ashamed of themselves.They told this girl what they were doing was art.Then made her look like my girlfriend the morning after we got drunk and i did her brains out for 3 hours.Duh,what wine.?.Who's wine.?.Where are my panties.?.Ick,das haiye in ma mouf.thp,thp.I need somthin'ta drink baby.Why does my hinder hurt.?.And my mouth taste like poop.?.

Ummm Daddy...Are sure this is art.?.Shut up girl...I'm gett'n paid here.Oach,don't pull my hair.!.Aww ya look fine dang it...You tore ma shirt daddy...Jis trow a sheet 'r sumpin' own er.She'll be fine.Na shut up and let'm take da dang picture woman.!.But,i'm not a woman daddy...I'm yer ltlle girl,member.?.Aww,Mary yer right.Miley,daddy.Datz what i said.Ohhh daddy.Here,have a drank and shut up.buuuurp.!.

this photo crosses the line for an underaged person. Why isn't Vanity Fair responsible as well? i'm sure this little girl didn't come up with these photo lay outs. Vanity Fair should be charged with child coruption and endangerment, as well as the parents who should be preveiwing these photo shoots.

oh my gosh she looks so uncomfortabe, look at her facial expression. it seems to me that she was forced to this, remember that she is underage and to do photoshoots and stuff like that, therefore, she needs parental consent. if she was a slut i dont think that she would be grabbing the cloth around her to hide herself, just look at how she is holding the cloth around her, if she was a slut she would probably be holding it lightly. and look at her eyes, she looks like she wants to kill the person who is responsible for this. i think she was forced to do this.

i dont agree with some of you people saying
oh this isnt bad
yea it is shes 15
and she looks terrible in these pics
well actually all her pics are bad

I think its a beautiful picture (art wise),maybe not the greatest picture of miley's beauty though. I don't think it even crossed a boundary towards child pornography. Parents let their kids go to school wearing less then she is. She didn't even reveal anything she wouldn't have if she wore a backless dress (which is not unheard of for teenagers). Are we back to the old ages where no one is allowed to see a girls back or shoulders? Just because its a towel covering her and not a shirt it doesn't mean shes wearing less. Yes there are people out there that will look at this the wrong way but they could do that with a lot of the art out there, heck they could do that with underwear commercials. You can't control what people do in their own homes without your knowledge.

And she isn't a slut for doing these pictures. I guarantee most people in her position would have done what the photographer asked, it doesn't matter if her dad was with her or not. She is nothing like Britney Spears for doing this photo shoot. Calling her a slut would suggest she is sleeping around and wearing provocative clothing to enhance her chances. She was there because shes famous and had been asked to be on a cover of a huge magazine (something I'm sure many people/kids fantasize about). Add in the fact that it is also a famous photographer asking her to do all of this and I really think anyone would have done the same. I think the worst part is that people would slander her a slut just because they can't think of a intelligent response to it.

I can't believe people are making such an issue over this! Girls walk into their High School hallways each and every day in this country wearing less than this. Not to mention what they are doing in the back of the bus, etc. I still say Miley is a great role model compared to them!!!!!!!

she isn't a slut, she was manipulated and tricked. she's nothing like britney spears, so everyone leave her be and stop trying to make her the next britney spears.

The photo looks exquisite.. I think it's a very beautiful picture of her.. You guys have to look beyond the picture so you could see the meaning of this portrait..

you see more flesh exposed at a beach than this photo.they need to cut her some slack,she is under so much stress please leave her be

i hate you now!!!

.........SLUT!

she is a responsible girl she can take care of herself.

well im a teen chick and i mean i like to show a little skin for guys. im not dumb and i know what beauty and art is. this is a wonderful picture, even though im not a fan on hannah montana or miley cyrus or what ever the hell she is. but i think its a lovely picture. and shes 15 years old she should be allowed to show "her back" for art and the sake of taking pictures. she did a very good job of not looking too trampy, but who cares show your wild side and have fun. its art and its lovely!
peaceee