Is Miley being wily?

NEW YORK - "You get the best of both worlds," Miley Cyrus sings in the theme song of her hugely popular Disney Channel show, "Hannah Montana." It's a reference to her character's double life as a rock star and a normal schoolgirl.

Offscreen, though, this 15-year-old phenom is starting to learn how hard it really is to have the best of both worlds: as a G-rated Disney superstar and a real-life, growing teenager with an eye on a long career.

Cyrus, whose fresh, easy charm and down-home Southern appeal have catapulted her to an astonishing level of celebrity, especially in the past year, found herself having to apologize Sunday for some entirely un-Miley photos in Vanity Fair magazine.

At a moment when she otherwise would have been relishing a deal for her memoirs (reportedly seven figures), the cover of People magazine and a feature in Vanity Fair, she issued a statement saying how embarrassed she was. This came almost certainly at the behest of worried executives at the Walt Disney Co., for whom she will reap a reported $1 billion this year.

For the record, only Cyrus' back and shoulders are bare in the most controversial shot by Annie Leibovitz, the renowned celebrity photographer. Cyrus herself told the magazine in an accompanying article that she found the photo, in which she gathers a sheet around her, "really artsy. It wasn't in a skanky way. And you can't say no to Annie."

But Cyrus is 15, with a fan base that begins in preschool. And it's what the photo suggests rather than shows -- the idea that she might be nude, perhaps even in bed -- that bothered some parents who poured their feelings out in blogs over the weekend. She wasn't nude during the shoot, nor in bed, but she does have a subtle come-hither expression.

Leibovitz said Monday that she and Cyrus had discussed the photos beforehand, and Vanity Fair said "Miley's parents and/or minders were on the set all day ... everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait." As for Disney, it accused editors of creating a situation "to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old." Disney declined to make anyone connected with "Hannah Montana" available to speak for this article.

Unfortunately for Cyrus, the photos, taken in February, might not have made nearly such a splash but for a bit of awkward timing: They emerged just days after some attention-getting amateur shots of Cyrus hit the Web. In one, she tugs down a tank top to reveal a bright green bra. In another, she lies languidly on her back across a male friend, shirt raised to bare her midriff.

So the timing was terrible. But some celebrity watchers saw the developments as an attempt by Cyrus and her handlers -- while not necessarily calculated -- to look ahead a few years, beyond the tween audience.

"She has to find a way to gain a new following," said Peter Castro, deputy managing editor of People magazine. He likened her situation to that of a butterfly still trapped in the cocoon. Cyrus' predicament evoked plenty of references to the cautionary tale of Britney Spears, who started on the Disney Channel about the same age as Cyrus and had her first huge hit, "Baby One More Time," at age 17.

"Britney was in a Miley place," said Castro. Then she decided to break out, making her persona in "Baby One More Time" a sexy schoolgirl, and doing a provocative photo shoot for Rolling Stone. "She alienated parents, but gained a whole following of older kids," says Castro.

But, he added, "I don't know that Miley could get away with that. I think her dad and management team are closely following Britney's career, saying, 'Don't let this ever happen to you.'"

"Miley's at the very top of our celebrity list," said Joanna Saltz, executive editor of Seventeen magazine, whose average reader is between 16 and 17. While Spears never appears in Seventeen, readers love Cyrus, Saltz said, because she seems genuine, "unproduced," comfortable in her own skin.

Reminiscent of the Beatles

Just how big is this young lady, whose 70-date concert tour in 2007 sold out within minutes, who had desperate parents filing lawsuits and entering wacky contests to get tickets, who herself took home $1 million a week and something close to $20 million from the tour?

"It's astounding," said Rolling Stone editor Andy Greene. "She was selling 20,000-seat houses. She could have sold 80,000 a night. I spoke to one dad who said the atmosphere in there was like nothing since the early Beatles concerts."

"Hannah Montana" is the No. 1 cable series for kids age 6 to 14, and if you include the networks, second only to "American Idol." Even Cyrus' consolation prize to fans who couldn't get concert tickets, the "Best of Both Worlds Concert" 3D movie, grossed more than $60 million, a rare hit for a concert film.