There has been endless speculation about the relationship between Billy Ray Cyrus and his famous 18-year old daughter, Miley, and in the March issues of GQ, Billy Ray moved to clear up a few things.
Billy Ray admitted he had been deeply disappointed with photos released last December of Miley smoking through a bong, but bemoaned the fact that his daughter’s minders seemed to have driven a wedge between the two.
Billy Ray believes that Miley’s management team often used him to draw attention away from his daughter when scandals arose, and that since he stopped this, he has been pushed out of her life.
The country singer said he feared that her entourage had more interest in making money from her, then they were in genuinely protecting her best interests, and also took the opportunity to clarify the financial relationship he has with his daughter.
"And some of these handlers are perhaps more interested in handling Miley's money than her safety and her career," alleged Billy Ray before saying how that leaves him "scared for her."
"I've never made a dime off of Miley," he insisted. "You got a lot of people have made percentages off of her. I'm proud to say to this day I've never made one commissioned dollar, or dime, off of my daughter."
The father of 6 who is in the process of divorcing his wife, bemoaned his daughter’s rise to fame through “Hannah Montana” and said he would take it all back if he could.
"It destroyed my family. I'll tell you right now – the damn show destroyed my family. I'd take it back in a second. For my family to be here and just be everybody okay, safe and sound and happy and normal, would have been fantastic. Heck, yeah," he emphasised, "I'd erase it all in a second if I could."
Billy Ray also shared the deep pain he feels that both his and Miley’s faith in God has been shaken by the whole experience.
"Somewhere along this journey, both mine and Miley's faith has been shaken," he said. "That saddens me the most."
Here Billy Ray stated his belief that evil forces were at work trying to destroy their lives, and that his family was being attacked by Satan.
"No doubt," he insisted. "There's no doubt about it."
But most tellingly, Billy Ray took a huge amount of responsibility on himself for his daughter’s present behaviour, and said that he should have been a better parent to her.
"How many interviews did I give and say, 'You know what's important between me and Miley is I try to be a friend to my kids'? I said it a lot," he confessed.
"And sometimes I would even read other parents might say, 'You don't need to be a friend, you need to be a parent.' Well, I'm the first guy to say to them right now: You were right.
"I should have been a better parent. I should have said, 'Enough is enough – it's getting dangerous and somebody's going to get hurt,'" he continued. "I should have, but I didn't. Honestly, I didn't know the ball was out of bounds until it was way up in the stands somewhere."