Disney Reacts to Billy Ray Cyrus' GQ Remarks

Billy Ray Cyrus might have made headlines with his pronouncement in the March issue of GQ that his daughter’s Disney Channel show Hannah Montana “destroyed” their family and that he is now estranged from 18-year-old Miley. 

But within the Disney empire that made her an international star, few were surprised by the bombshell interview.    A Disney insider tells THR that both Miley and Billy Ray have been clear with the company about their desire to distance themselves from the Mouse House since Hannah Montana ended its five-year run in January.    In particular, Miley Cyrus, whose 2010 romance The Last Song grossed $60 million domestically for Disney’s Touchstone label, has no movie projects in development with the studio because she is determined to foster a more adult image. (She will next be seen in LOL, an April high school comedy for Mandate and Lionsgate, then So Undercover, in which she plays a private eye who infiltrates a sorority.)    “We saw it coming for a long time,” the Disney source says. “She wanted to mature herself, but it kind of backfired. Her future without Disney is TBD.”    In the GQ article, Billy Ray blames Miley’s handlers for the recent controversies involving his daughter, including a video of her smoking salvia. (She’s repped by CAA, manager Jason Morey and publicist Meghan Prophet; all declined comment.)   He also claims in the article that he never made money off his daughter, a suggestion the Disney source calls “ludicrous.”