Billy Ray explains

NEW YORK -- Billy Ray Cyrus says he wasn’t around when Annie Leibovitz photographed his 15-year-old daughter, Miley, wrapped in a sheet with her back exposed, for the June issue of Vanity Fair.

“I wasn’t there at the time,” the 46-year-old country star said in an interview Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show.

Miley’s “publicist was there, and everyone seemed in control,” he said. “I didn’t know they [were] going to strip her down and wrap her with a blanket.”

“So I was surprised when I saw it, you know, but . . . stuff happens. That’s life. Things happen and sometimes things get a little out of control and you just gotta deal with life,” he said. “Again, it’s peaks and valleys and ups and downs.”

Cyrus, who costars with Miley in Disney Channel’s “Hannah Montana,” said Leibovitz was a “good person and a great photographer,” but, looking back, he would have stayed to chaperon the photo shoot.

Another photo in the Vanity Fair spread that caused a stir was the image of Miley in a black tank top that revealed her midriff as Cyrus held her in his arms.

When asked if that photo was a mistake, Cyrus said: “It’s not a mistake to me. If it is to someone else, I’m sorry if I offended somebody, but no, that’s just a daddy that loves his daughter a whole lot.”

Cyrus said he and Miley “got caught up in this adventure that we’ve gone through with this dream, and what we do for a living. . . . We both love acting, we love making music and we love each other. I’m her dad and she’s my daughter, so if a daddy hasn’t hugged his daughter recently, I’d recommend he does.”