Billy Ray Cyrus: 'I'm Scared For Miley' In GQ

She's a teen idol, but Miley Cyrus has been less than Disney squeaky clean the last few years. And it's starting to scare her dad.

Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley's father -- both off camera and on, as he played her dad in "Hannah Montana" -- spoke with GQ in a long interview, talking about his daughter's frequent slipups (salvia smoking, pole dancing, numerous racy photos, amongst others) and saying that he's been helpless to control them. Even if he's getting blamed.

Saying that he often was cut out the process -- told that it not his business -- or protested by staying away -- Billy bemoaned the fact that he'd get pinned with the slipup, anyway -- they let him "take the bullet."

The mistake he made, he says, was trying to be too much of a friend to Miley -- and as a result, not being a better parent. Now, as a concerned parent, he feels helpless -- and even cites Michael Jackson, Anna Nicole Smith and his late friend Kurt Cobain as ultimate disasters that he hopes she'll avoid following.

"I'm scared for her. She's got a lot of people around her that's putting her in a great deal of danger," he said. "I know she's 18, but I still feel like as her daddy I'd like to try to help. Take care of her just a little bit, to at least get her out of danger. I want to get her sheltered from the storm. Stop the insanity just for a minute. When you go through what she's been through, it takes a beating on you."

Out here is living on his own, out of his family's house -- he's in the middle of a divorce from Miley's mom Tish, to whom he's been married for 18 years. The show, he said, drove a wedge between them all. The whole thing has been difficult on Miley, too, as she's said that the coverage of the family drama is "pushing her buttons."

Miley has also opened up about her scandals, claiming distance from her good girl Disney image.

"But I've never, ever claimed to be perfect," she told Marie Claire recently. "I mean, since I've started the show, I've always said, 'I'm gonna make mistakes.' I know this. And I think that that is one of the reasons why people related to me. Why kids related to me."

For so much more about Billy Ray's childhood, family and career, click over to GQ.com.

Comments

[Don Every]

08:43 AM on 02/17/2011

(Apologies, not Don Every, wrongly logged in)

[Mike From Hayward]

07:42 PM on 02/16/2011

I will completely enjoy the downfall

[madgrrl]

12:35 PM on 02/16/2011

Perhaps outsourcing your parenting responsiblities of your daughter to the Disney Corporation and other media outlets isn't such a bright idea. Who didn't see this train wreck coming?

[shaq deisel]

10:45 AM on 02/17/2011

Agreed!

[lyrker]

08:42 PM on 02/17/2011

Does anyone else find it ironically funny that Billy Ray could play Miley's dad on tv successfully but in real life he can't manage to keep his family together?

As for the train wreck... I called that one the moment she did the dad-approved pole dance and repeated it when she stripped for the magazine photo shoot that dad okayed.

[Scytherius]

12:16 PM on 02/16/2011

As my daughter wisely said, "Any parent that tries to be friends with their kids should never be a parent."

[lyrker]

08:44 PM on 02/17/2011

I've always maintained that it's all right to be friendly with your kids but you HAVE to have that parental gap friends just don't have. You need to be able to tell your kid "no" and to have them upset with you. Kids need to have parents they can respect, obey and complain about with their friends. If your kids are your best friends, something's not right.

[angrymanspokane]

11:54 AM on 02/16/2011

He's scared that his fleeting fame associated with his manipulation of his daughter might be ending soon.

[robertso2020]

11:33 AM on 02/16/2011

Taxes in Canada are used on Canadians not the Mid East. With that said, their HC system, relative to other westernized countries, is average at best....I lived in Toronto for a stretch. It's great for common ailments and injuries and the system won't bankrupt you (that is VERY important). But there is no innovation in that country. The don't have drug companies and they don't create innovative procedures...all this is fact with no political bias. US citizens subsidized innovation in HC for the world. Instead of criticizing us they should be thanking (and paying) us. Instead we allow the HC industry (all facets...insurance, drug, med device, doctors) to run all over US citizens.

[Scytherius]

12:17 PM on 02/16/2011

And I assume this wasn't meant for the Miley Cyrus story?

[PC0207]

09:34 AM on 02/16/2011

Where was this concern when years ago?! Even Stevie Wonder could see that is was a train wreck waiting to happen. Is it a possibility that you're scared now that you're no longer in control of her finances?!

[Slipperypick]

09:08 AM on 02/16/2011

"his late friend, Kurt Cobain..."
???
"Achy-Breaky Heart Shaped Box...?"

[newplasticmachine]

10:17 PM on 02/16/2011

thought the same thing...

[Ktbu Lfu]

09:06 AM on 02/16/2011

Great...now we are going to get Billy Ray (ala Dina Lohan) going around to all the television shows whining about how Disney ruined his daughter and his family.

Sorry Billy Ray.....You LET your family get ruined. All this crap about blaming it on someone or something else is ridiculous. They LET her boyfriend live in the same house with them. They LET her be photographed provocatively. What on earth did they expect?

[bwright85]

09:23 AM on 02/16/2011

If you read the article (which I'm guessing you and a lot of other people on here didn't) he CLEARLY admits to all of the stuff "he let her get away with". It's actually one of his biggest regrets.... "being her friend" and not stepping up and being a father. Kudos to him for being so honest not only about the industry, but about his own faults and mistakes in her rise to "fame"

[Ktbu Lfu]

10:07 AM on 02/16/2011

I'm not saying he didn't admit it. I was just giving my opinion. BUT, I am saying that he is living off his daughter's irresponsible behavior.

[madgrrl]

12:33 PM on 02/16/2011

Sounds to me like he wants a free pass, and is more upset that he is being blamed by his non parenting of his daughter. I don't feel one bit sorry for him. A father's job is to protect his daughter - fail!

[Slipperypick]

09:05 AM on 02/16/2011

Anybody who didn't see this coming is probably living in a cave. It's always this way with kids in fame and with famous parents. Ah, America.

[Hard2kill]

08:21 AM on 02/16/2011

I don't care with this clown....

[devilirius]

07:47 AM on 02/16/2011

Congratulations to Miley for being voted "Worst Celebrity Influence" on kids for the second year in a row. (Eat it, Lohan!). We should call that award a "WaCkI".

Frankly, she can run around smoking a bong without underwear all she wants as long as I don't have to see her on my TeeVee or in the supermarket checkout line. Leave me alone, Miley. Party in private.

[mtnman]

07:21 AM on 02/16/2011

As a father of a 13 year old who grew up with Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana, I can't tell you how many times I turned the channel only to find the show on later. I have no pity for Mr. "Achy Breaky Heart" (one of the worst songs ever) Billy Ray Cyrus, who has had no problem cashing in on all the millions his daughter made for him. That she is now a "wild child" - oh well, most could see that coming a mile away. What is worse is Ms. Cyrus effect on a generation of kids, as her show did nothing to help parents in their attempts to reign in teen behavior the past few years.

[ywcachieve]

04:07 AM on 02/16/2011

I am just stunned that he blames everybody but himself and his wife, for his wild child daughter. She JUST turned 18, so all this wildness was done while she was a minor, when her parents should have had control over her.