Billy Ray Cyrus wishes he never heard of Hannah Montana. The singer/actor who played the dad of his real-life daughter Miley in the hit Disney Channel sitcom tells GQ Magazine that the show tore his family apart — and, he fears, put Miley on a self-destructive path.

From the article:

“Somewhere along this journey,” he says, “both mine and Miley’s faith
has been shaken. That saddens me the most.” When they first came to
Hollywood for Hannah Montana, the two of them would drive down
the freeway together to the studio each morning, and every day Miley
would point out the sign that said

ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY
ATHEISTS UNITED

Just before moving out to Los Angeles, the whole family had been
baptized together by their pastor at the People’s Church in Franklin,
Tennessee. “It was (his wife)Tish’s  idea,” he remembers. “She said, ‘We’re going
to be under attack, and we have to be strong in our faith and we’re all
going to be baptized…'” And there, driving to work each day in the
City of Angels, was this sign. “A physical sign. It could have easily
said ‘You will now be attacked by Satan.’ ‘Entering this industry, you
are now on the highway to darkness…'”

A stark view of the industry to be sure — but Cyrus speaks with obvious and understandable pain. For some reason, his story brings the 23rd Psalm to mind.

Charlie Sheen says he can handle crack “socially.“ The actor blames his bosses — not his drug rehab — for Two and a Half Men‘s (temporary?) production shutdown.  Martin Sheen can no doubt relate to Billy Ray Cyrus’ fatherly fears of a child (even a 45-year-old child) on a destructive path.

Anna Nicole: The Opera. The tragic life and death of Anna Nicole Smith gets the operatic treatment in a production that premieres at London’s Royal Opera House tomorrow. The pin-up model/reality TV star died of a prescription drug overdose in 2007 at the age of 39 — her story a sad reminder that fame and fortune do not equal happiness.