As anyone who's followed Cyrus' career over the years -- and as the mother of two girls, believe me, I qualify -- could tell you, Cyrus has had a bumpy road to adulthood. The girl who became a star at age 13 has seen her rump shaking and salvia smoking horrify parents. Her vocal support of gay rights shocked conservative Christians. And as her fan base hit middle school, she was instantly rendered uncool to an entire generation.

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Two months ago, the 18-year-old singer got in a Twitter tiff with a fellow Tennessean over "moral values" and declared she's "not gonna be a closed-minded hypocrite," before ripping into Rick Santorum and his acolytes, including "SHADYASHELL" Urban Outfitters. And last month, after the Casey Anthony verdict, she was railing on Twitter that "You know the world is skewed when people get away with murdering children but we cant get gay marriage legalized in the state of California."

Now, Cyrus has expressed her feelings a little more permanently, flaunting an equality tattoo on her ring finger and tweeting this weekend that "All LOVE is equal." And when a Christian fan took offense, she promptly snapped, "where does it say in the bible to judge others? Oh right. It doesn't. GOD is the only judge honey. GOD is love."

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Sometimes you're just the victim of a bad situation, like when those hackers leaked racy photos you took in 2008 for Joe Jonas, and posted them all over the Internet. Or when this happened again in 2010 and the FBI was called in.

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a) Miley Cyrus

b) Old Navy

c) Urban Outfitters

The correct answer is: a and b get their pride on, while c decidedly does not. Pride party in the USA!

Cyrus may not be the outspoken "Born This Way" icon that Gaga is, but the kid gets props for shutting down -- and openly expressing her disdain for -- intolerance this week. When a fellow Tennessean and self-professed Christian fan named Tammy Hudson took to Twitter to lament "what happened To that Christian girl from Tn with decent moral values and a lot of heart?" Cyrus promptly singled the woman out from among her over 1 million followers to call shenanigans. "What an ignorant statement," she wrote. "I dont have 'alot of heart' cuz im not gonna be a closed minded hypocrite? LOVE IS LOVE. GOD IS LOVE." It's a statement so forthright and so sadly lacking in Christian conservatism, we're willing to forgive Cyrus her "alot" and "cuz." (Hudson, meanwhile, was unmoved, elaborating later that "I didn't decide it was wrong to be gay. God did, I just follow his rules.") 

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1.) Bacon cologne and perfume: Hey, that's a thing now! Really great to use if you like being chased down the street by dogs.

2.) Ben Affleck may be playing the brutish Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby" remake: Fine. He might actually rock that. But does it still have to be in 3D?

3.) The video preview for the Beastie Boys' eighth album, "Hot Sauce Committee, Part Two."

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See, celebrities have a difficult time with Twitter. On the one hand, it gives them direct access to their fans in a way that was previously impossible, allowing them to promote the very best version of themselves while giving the illusion that they are letting people into their private thoughts and lives. On the other hand, sometimes famous people -- like the rest of us -- forget that there is a difference between thinking something and tweeting it, and end up oversharing some thought or private picture.

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 But don't blame the kids! Like members of the royal family, they had no choice but to follow their family's dynasty, even if they would have been happier working at a school, driving a truck or even cashing unemployment checks while trying to pay off student loans. We look at 10 celebrities with famous parents and predict what they'd be doing if they hadn't been born into extraordinary circumstances.

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It has not been a great year for the elder Cyrus. In October, he filed for divorce from his wife, Tish. Less than a week later, video of his daughter enthusiastically enjoying a bongful of what was later reported to be salvia surfaced. She turned 18 in November, ended her "Hannah Montana" Disney series to record-breaking ratings in January, and is now, by her father's account, living a life that's "a train wreck."

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Sigh.

Just as with any naked celebrity photo, the main question is whether it's real. (Note: I won't be linking to the uncensored version.) The gossip blog that originally posted the shot claimed that Cyrus recently had her purse and iPhone stolen. The shot in question shows a young lady taking a photo of herself in the mirror while wearing an unbuttoned plaid flannel (interesting choice) and nothing else. Her face isn't visible, but there are certainly many similarities to Miley, as numerous Internet commenters have taken great pains to point out. (I mean, seriously, get these people some honorary detective badges. Then follow up with an award for perviness.) If it's real, it was almost certainly taken when she was underage.

And yet, people are re-posting the uncensored version far and wide. I guess they didn't learn anything from the controversy over the supposed upskirt shot Perez Hilton posted of the star. Then again, maybe they did -- after all, Hilton got off scot-free.

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After turning into a sexy, glittery bird last month for her "Can't Be Tamed" video, she raised eyebrows with a clip of her rump shaking at a party, appeared to kiss a girl and, for the pièce de résistance, incited End of Times fretting after Perez Hilton posted a photo of the 17-year-old climbing out of a car, apparently underpants-free.

On Sunday, she continued her streak of commanding our attention while baffling the bejezus out of us with her performances at Toronto's MuchMusic Video Awards. First, there was a midriff-baring, booty rocking, strangely street cred-attempting rendering of "Party in the USA," wherein she and her troupe appeared to channel vintage Salt n' Pepa, replete with big earrings, bandannas and flannel.  Represent!

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MSNBC's "Today Show" reports that ABC Daytime pulled a banner ad for "The View" from the blogger's website. "It's not a matter of whether you like [Perez] or not, it has to do with the morality of the issue. Miley is a minor, period. There are ethics involved in running an ad on a site that potentially violated the rights of a minor, and that is what the conversation is about at the network level," an anonymous ABC source said.

It's funny to think that an upskirt shot of a not-quite-legal starlet is enough to offend the sensibilities of major advertisers, but Hilton's signature semen scribbles and slut-shaming is not. Regardless, depriving him of precious ad dollars seems far more appropriate than throwing the book at him, especially given the severity of child porn laws. 

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The facts as we know them: On Sunday, Hilton's Twitter account sent out the following message: "If you are easily offended, do NOT click here http://i46.tinypic.com/2rze4pv.jpg Oh, Miley! Warning: truly not for the easily offended!" The photo in question has since been yanked down, but the image is allegedly of Cyrus climbing out of a car wearing a dress and no underwear (according to EarSucker.com, this is a censored version of the image in question). Now, Hilton has posted upskirt shots before of Britney Spears -- but Cyrus is roughly five months short of her 18th birthday. She's still a minor and it's legally considered child pornography.

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Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, frequently publishes upskirt photos of celebrities like Britney Spears (usually exiting cars) on his website. One of the early trademarks of his blog was his addition of sometimes crude doodles to the photos he posted. Cyrus, however, is underage, so the latest photo has sparked disgust and cries of child pornography.

It is not clear whether the photo (which has been removed from Twitter but remains posted with censor on various sites) is real or edited, but either way, it makes my skin crawl.

Cyrus, in her attempts to break free of her Disney Channel chains, frequently faces scrutiny in the media for her skimpy clothing and provocative photos and dance moves. Watch her controversial, growing pain-infused music video for the song "Can't Be Tamed" below and judge for yourself.

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In a statement issued three hours after AP's initial report of its findings, Wal-Mart said it would remove the jewelry while it investigates. The statement was issued along with Cyrus and Max Azria, the designer that developed the jewelry for the 17-year-old "Hannah Montana" star.

In the statement, Wal-Mart said that while the jewelry is not intended for children, "it is possible that a few younger consumers may seek it out in stores."

"We are removing all of the jewelry from sale while we investigate its compliance with our children's jewelry standard," Wal-Mart said.

Cadmium in jewelry is not known to be dangerous if the items are simply worn. Concerns come when youngsters bite or suck on the jewelry, as many children are apt to do.

Long-term exposure to cadmium can lead to bone softening and kidney failure. It is also a known carcinogen, and research suggests that it can, like lead, hinder brain development in the very young.

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In the video, Miley is a rare bird in a gilded cage who wears a ton of makeup. Kind of like the chicken lady in "Freaks," but hotter. But this bird can't be tamed, see? So she busts free -- getting in a little dry hump against the bars of her cage on the way out -- and proceeds to shimmy and grind against a menagerie of male and female sexy beasts along the way, while telling you to "go to hell." Are you outraged yet?

While some of the commenters on E!, where the video premiered, were complimentary of Cyrus's new direction, others wasted no time in labeling her a "half naked ... Britney wannabe" and "another Disney chick gone horribly wrong." The Daily Mail, meanwhile, more gently pondered: "Aren't you a little young for that?"

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