
Billy Ray Cyrus is doing some fancy footwork backpedaling from his GQ interview comments that exploded in February.
In the article, Cyrus relayed his frustrations with the fame machine surrounding his daughter and Disney star Miley Cyrus. The elder Cyrus claimed he was continually used by the team of handlers to fall on the sword anytime something negative appeared about Miley.
But today, he’s singing a different tune. He says he let fathering duties slide in hopes of being a pal to his children.
“I did kind of approach being a dad as a friend … I was a great playmate. I mean, for teaching them how to camp and build fires and ride motorcycles and four-wheelers, and horses, and all those fun kind of things, I was really good at that,” he said. “As far as sitting down and doing algebra and science, the homework, I wasn’t very good at that. So I look back on it and think, ‘you know what? Maybe, no doubt, I could have been a better dad.”
Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus have reconciled and called off the divorce (they were separated at the time of the GQ story) and the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer wants people to know he didn’t mean Hannah Montana destroyed his family, fame did.
Robin Roberts asked him how he felt about the magazine’s headline: “Hannah Montana Destroyed My Family.”
He replied: “I hated it. I absolutely — I hated it, ’cause that’s not what I meant. And…I don’t think that’s what I said. But, regardless, that’s what was written. And I hated it because I love ‘Hannah Montana.’ I love Disney, I love the show. I love… the entertainment we’ve been able to make.”
Watch the whole interview below. (Read the article)