Miley Cyrus

Wow, is it ever slow out there. It's almost like nothing is happening at all. Except for this: 

Gossip Girl's Chase Crawford likes to give his fans hugs. [Daily Intel]

In other GG news, Blake Lively says there's no real kissing on the show: "it's just an open mouth. Your lips are touching each other, but there's definitely no kissing." [P6]

A wild animal tore Gisele Bündchen's denim outfit into shreds, but she decided to wear it anyway on the cover of V magazine. [The Cut]

Alex Rodriguez talks to The Insider's Pat O'Brian about his personal life, says "everyone has distractions," and he is no exception.  read more »

Billy Ray Cyrus went on the Today show this morning and reportedly spoke about his daughter, Miley Cyrus' Vanity Fair photo spread that made everyone unusually enraged about her naked back: "I wasn't there at the time. [Miley's] publicist was there, and everyone seemed in control. I didn't know they (were) gonna strip her down and wrap her with a blanket."  read more »

What do you do if your magazine was embroiled in a possibly manufactured controversy over its allegedly sexualized photos of a minor? If you're Vanity Fair, you make fun of the whole thing, of course.  read more »

Leighton Meester goes on Conan O'Brian and totally doesn't act like Blair. [Daily Intel]

The newest pseudo-intern at the Vogue mothership is New York Ranger, Sean Avery, who like most Conde interns might travel to the European couture shows with Anna. [WWD]  read more »

As you may have already read, Miley Cyrus is totally embarrassed by the semi-topless (back view) photos printed of her in this month's Vanity Fair. In a statement put out by her publicist, Ms. Cyrus, age 15, said, "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."

Representatives of the magazine responded that during Annie Liebovitz's shoot, "Miley's parents and/or minders were on the set all day... Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley."

This isn't the first time a star has felt stung by VF. Dewey ingenues like Lindsay Lohan and Paul Wolfowitz have complained of being misquoted and beloved icons like Courtney Love and Paris Hilton blame the magazine for their subsequent vilification. Here, a look back in anger, denial, and occasional admission.  read more »

Finally! In today's Times 'Arts, Briefly' Motoko Rich reports that teen triple-threat supernova Miley Cyrus will tell all in "a book about her early life in Tennessee, her move to Los Angeles and the influence of her parents — especially her mother — on her success."

The book, which will be out in time to qualify for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Awards, was sold to Disney-Hyperion Books for seven figures and have an initial print run of a million copies. (Since neither Ms. Cyrus or her alter-ego, Hannah Montana is a citizen of the Commonweath or the Republic of Ireland she will not be eligible for the Mann Booker Prize.)

Ms. Rich quotes Disney Book Group publisher Jeanne Mosure as saying, "It’s rare that you hear from someone her age that they want to talk about their family... How she sees her family in light of everything that she’s exposed to on a daily basis is pretty incredible.”

It should be noted that exposed is probably not the best word to use this week.

Okay … so we had the weirdest dream this weekend. Some movie we had never heard of, something that rhymed “Hannah” with “Montana,” came out of nowhere and broke all sorts of records. Oh, wait, that actually happened? Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour (featuring a young lady born in the early 90’s, sigh), which plays in 3-D (augh!), made $29 million even though it only played in 683 theaters. This means it did better than any other movie playing over the Super Bowl weekend. Ever. It even did better than Titanic. O.K.?  read more »

Well, the Cyrus clan has done it again. Both father and daughter have taken something that should annoy and frustrate—Billy Ray’s cloying country ballad “Achy Breaky Heart” and Miley Cyrus’s saccharine, yet sassy songstress on Hannah Montana—and spun pop culture gold. (This is the sports equivalent of two brothers winning back-to-back Super Bowls. Oh, wait!) But don’t think this country star’s charm is limited to the flyover states—city gals have lapped it up, too, from Brearley to Bronx Science. It’s Hannah Manhattan!  read more »