by Susanne Jones

Created on: April 29, 2008

Miley Cyrus quickly made it to the top of stardom after Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan fell out of grace with their fan base of teens, tweens, and younger. Britney and Lindsay ultimately got tangled up in the treacherous web of partying, alcohol, and drugs, just like so many kid and teen stars before them. Unable to deal with their sudden stardom and fading thereof, their access to a boatload of money, the media and fan attention, and ultimately growing up, they ended up messing up in the public spotlight. Fittingly, on the heal of their disastrous downfall, Miley, also known as Hannah Montana and Destiny Hope Cyrus, was portrayed as the good girl from next door, down to earth and without fail. But is she? Is her much discussed "nude" picture just the beginning? Does she, too, have problems dealing with growing up and the stress of the up and downs of her career?

Miley Cyrus comes from a family with a history in the spotlight. Her father is Billy Ray Cyrus; her grandfather is Ron Cyrus. One would think the family knows how to deal with being scrutinized by the media, knows that stardom has its ups and downs. But it seems that Miley's parents got caught up in the spotlight themselves, unable to make the proper decisions for their daughter. It looks like they are putting fame first, Miley second.

Let's face it, her father was not exactly that famous until his daughter landed a hit with the "Hannah Montana" show. It's been a good ride for them in the last two years. The "good girl" image suited her well. Parents desperate for a good role model for their children, after the other "role models" screwed up, jumped at it. Disney was more than happy to feed the image, and so was the media.

But not surprisingly, and this should have been well known by Miley's parents, the media is prone to scrutinizing public images of stars. Miley just looked too polished, too much without failure for it to be true. Consequently, the parents were asked how they would prevent her from becoming another Britney or Lindsay once she gets older. The answer was usually that they show her the terrible pictures and stories of failed stars, especially Britney and Lindsay; encouraging her to make the right choices and not to end up just like them. Sure, scare tactics are good, and I'm sure she got the message. But lets face it, she is a teenager, prone to mistakes as much as she would like to avoid them. And do they seriously believe the parents of past teen idols did not try to do the same? It's

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