After telling PEOPLE in its new issue that fame "destroyed my family" – and revealing in anotherinterview he was "scared" for daughter Miley, 18, – the country star says he's looking inward.
"It is very important to me to work on mending my family right now," Cyrus, 49, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive statement.
Calling his recent comments "explosive, and unintentionally so," Cyrus says, "My family is the most important thing I have, and we are working together to make sure our future is stronger and healthier."
Cyrus, who had retreated to his Tennessee farm and filed for divorce last fall, has been lately spending time in Los Angeles with wife Tish, 43, and youngest daughter Noah, 11.
"It is all a learning process, and we thank everyone for their support and respect of our privacy as we sort through very important family issues," he says.
Miley Cyrus has her hands full as she heads into dance class in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon (February 21).
The 18-year-old actress, who was wearing Toms Shoes, just recently was honored at the Global Action Awards Gala.
Miley was honored with the Global Action Youth Leadership Award by Hilary Duff for her work with Blessings in a Backpack and her own organization Get Ur Good On.
Today I was searching YouTube when I came across the song Morning Sun, which features Miley. I’m not sure if this is the real song, but it sounds good and it’s really catchy! Make sure you check it out.
Miley Cyrus, who recently declared she would be leaving pop music, has defended this decision.
She says she left music to take on acting because of the bureaucracy of the industry.
“I just feel like the industry is so contrived and political right now. If people stepped away and said, ‘We’re not going to work like this, it’s more about out art than the politics’, then maybe it would go back to being respected again. I’d rather be in an industry that I feel like I can be different in, and do things that really inspire me. It’s not that I don’t love music, I do. But I feel like I just need to get away from that for a little while.”
Miley attended the 1st annual Global Action Awards at the The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills last night and looked absolutly gorgeous! She was presented with the Global Action Youth Leadership Award by Hilary Duff for her work with Blessings in a Backpack and her own organization Get Ur Good On.
A friend tells Pop Eater that the former Disney star simply can't believe her father opened up to GQ this manner in such a disturbing, strange manner.
"To say Miley is angry is an understatement," a pal says. "She's furious that her own flesh and blood would make a private matter so public. Who does he think he is, Michael Lohan?"
Reports claim Miley and her father have not spoken since December. We can't confirm that, but this same source says Miley has labeled her dad's comments as "unforgivable," adding:
"This isn't what a father does. He never said a bad world about Hannah Montana all those years it made millions for the family, and now that Miley has turned 18 and is making her own decisions, he does this. Unforgivable."
She may be an international star, but to Billy Ray Cyrus daughterMiley is still his little girl.
That's why it's been so difficult for him to watch the recent events: the infamous video of her smoking the herb salvia from a bong and the 18th birthday party that he refused to attend because it was in a bar.
"I'm scared for her," Billy Ray, 49, tells the March issue of GQ. "She's got a lot of people around her that's putting her in a great deal of danger. I know she's 18, but I still feel like as her daddy I'd like to try to help. Take care of her just a little bit, to at least get her out of danger."
Billy Ray adds, "I want to get her sheltered from the storm. Stop the insanity just for a minute. When you go through what she's been through, it takes a beating on you. And there comes a point where you just got to step back."
But the "Achy Breaky Heart" singer says he feels squeezed out of her life. He reminds people that while he appeared with her on the hit show Hannah Montana, he's not her manager and has no say in her professional life.
"For the record," he says, "to set it straight, I want to tell you: I've never made a dime off of Miley. 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."
Billy Ray blames the problems on bad advice given to Miley by her handlers and the pressures of the Disney Channel show, particularly the shooting of the final episodes in January 2010. By the fall, Billy Ray would be in divorce proceedings with Miley's mother, Tish Cyrus.
"The damn show destroyed my family," he says. "And I sit there and go, 'Yeah, you know what? Some gave all.' It is my motto, and guess what? I have to eat that one. I some-gave-all'd it all right. I some-gave-all'd it while everybody else was going to the bank. It's all sad."
Miley Cyrus was all about the music this Christmas.
The singer, 18, rang in the holidays with her family in Nashville, where she and little sister Noah, 10, sang a duet of her summer single "Can't Be Tamed" together.
"Miley and noah are currently singing "can't be tamed" on noah's new karaoke machine," big sister Brandi, 23, Tweeted. "It's pretty hilarious."
She added: "my Mom is videoing … maybe if you're lucky i'll snag it and upload."
Also in Tennessee for the holiday: Billy Ray Cyrus – whofiled for divorce from Miley's mom, Tish, in October. A source tells PEOPLE that he spent some quality time with his children over the Christmas holidays at his 500-acre farm outside of Nashville.
In the spirit of the holidays, Cyrus also posted a Christmas message for her fans (watch it below), and shared her goals for 2011. "I want to make this the year that I go out and do what I'm here to do," she says, "and that's to help people and make people happy."
Miley, who has taken a lot of heat since TMZ posted the story that she was smoking salvia, has been saying, she’s just young and having fun … this, according to friends in direct contact with her.
Miley acknowledged she’s seen the TMZ story and also knew it was going to eventually surface. As TMZ first reported, Miley’s camp was trying to bury the incident by scooping up copies of the video.
One friend put it this way: “Miley doesn’t care. She’s filming her movie and getting on with her life.”
Miley Cyrus Goes Clubbing with Kelly Osbourne in New Orleans
Fresh off the heels of a widely seen video that showed Miley Cyrus smoking the sage Salviafrom a bong, the former Disney star, 18, wasted no time hitting the club circuit with her So Undercover costar Kelly Osbourne.
"It was a good, old-fashioned girl's night," a source tells PEOPLE of the two gals, who along with pal Alexis Knapp and two other women, arrived at the New Orleans club Republic at 1:30 a.m. Saturday. "They were just dancing and hanging out. Miley was drinking Red Bulls."
The real fun started for Cyrus when a song from fellow pop starLady Gaga came on at the club.
"[Miley] went nuts dancing," the source says. "[the group] was really nice and great to the staff. They kept saying how they want to come back. They were really polite ... and saying they had such a wonderful time."
