Miley Cyrus Says Sister Noah Actually Took Infamous 'Vanity Fair' Photo
Miley Cyrus nearly broke the Internet in 2008 when Annie Leibowitz shot her topless Vanity Fair portrait, but it turns out there’s more to the story.
“Everyone knows the controversy of the photo, but they don’t really know the behind-the-scenes is always much more meaningful,” Cyrus, 30, said during her “Used to Be Young” TikTok series, in a video posted on Wednesday, August 30. “My little sister, Noah [Cyrus], was sitting on Annie’s lap and actually pushing the button on the camera, taking the pictures.”
Miley further recalled that her whole “family was on set” before detailing why the photo spread still occupies a special place in her heart. “This was the first time I ever wore red lipstick because Pati Dubroff, who did my makeup, thought this would be another element that would divide me from Hannah Montana,” she added.
Miley rose to fame as the titular character on Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana upon its March 2006 premiere. As the show’s popularity continued to grow alongside Miley’s own musical ambitions, she was tapped for the cover of Vanity Fair. Famed fashion photographer Leibowitz, now 73, was slated to take the portraits of the 15-year-old. The images quickly drew backlash over the decision to allow a teenage star to pose topless, wrapped only in a white bedsheet.
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Disney Channel even called out the magazine in a statement for “deliberately” manipulating Miley — one of the daughters of now-exes Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Cyrus — “in order to sell magazines.”
Miley, for her part, swiftly issued an apology and noted that the pictures were “supposed to be ‘artistic’” but since felt “so embarrassed.”
“I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about,” she concluded her statement at the time.
A spokesperson for Vanity Fair defended the photo shoot, claiming that either Miley’s parents or set “minders” were around the set “all day.” In a statement to The New York Times, the rep explained: “Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley,” the rep told the newspaper.
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Nearly one decade later, Miley recanted her apology. “IM NOT SORRY,” she wrote via her Instagram Story in April 2018. “F*/k YOU #10YearsAgo.”
Miley — who wrapped Hannah Montana in January 2011 — further noted on Wednesday that this shoot was the first time that she was seen as completely separate from her on-camera persona.
“This image of me is the complete opposite of the bubblegum pop star that I had been known for being, and that’s what was so upsetting,” Miley concluded her video. “But really brilliant choices looking back now from those people.”
