0 is an enigma. that does it for us, we'll see you one hour from now at 10:00 p.m. eastern for "360" later. "piers morgan live" starts now. this is "piers morgan live." welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. billy ray cyrus, you may think you know him celebrity dad, of course, but what you don't know is billy ray cyrus is a man of strong opinions and tonight he's bringing it all to my table. his daughter miley, that controversy, america, syria, guns. plus the pope's surprising new attitude on gays and abortion. he's thought on two classic sitcoms. why did bob newhart win his first emmy at the age of 84. what he tells me tonight exclusively. it's a big story, a big interview, billy ray cyrus probably the most famous father on planet earth right now. billy ray, how are you? >> i'm doing great. i just met bob newhart. i'm telling you, star struck. he's such a great actor. he's entertained our families for years. and he's as beautiful and wonderful in person as he is on tv. it was a real honor to -- probably the closest i'll ever coto come to an emmy, i held his. >> i've never met bob newhart, he's a true television legend. it's great you met in the back. right, billy ray cyrus. so i have for the last three weeks been informing america that i love what miley did and i've also been explaining how i've been twerking in the caribbean for at least 30 years. nothing new to people of the cutting edge of this art form. but everyone's been asking, what does billy ray think? you're her father, right. so what is your view of this huge miley controversy? >> i'm a singer/songwriter first and foremost. and i'm her daddy. i come from that school of as a singer/songwriter as a musician that it starts with a song. and it's that magic moment when a song finds the right artist, the right singer and it becomes a of that moment in time. she's an artist, she's real. i think what's happened over the years, miley has been reinventing her sound. she's evolving as an artist herself. i think that it's all of what everyone is calling controversy now. still -- that's still my miley. that's still -- >> did you know what she was going to do at the awards? >> i knew that she was wanted to do something really special and something that everybody was going to be talking about. i knew that she had put in a great deal of practice and thought into what was going to happen in new york. again, it became that moment of a singer/songwriter/entertainer finding that special moment. and again, sometimes controversy lies in that special moment. i've never known any great artist that was lukewarm and the fans were just in the middle on it. you either love it or you hate it. >> this is what i've been saying. you look at madonna or rihanna or britney spears or even beyonce. go back to the elvis, beatles, stones. the thing they all had was they did stuff that was pushing the boundaries. and miley's not hannah montana anymore. she's a 20-year-old woman who wants to express herself as an artist. and i get that but you also know a lot of people have hated what she did. they think it's outrageous. they want her to stay little sweet hannah montana. what do you say to these people who perhaps were huge fans of hannah montana and feel uncomfortable about the direction she's taken? >> well, that's what music is supposed to do is make you feel. that's what music is supposed to do. and you can either love it or hate it. that's everyone's right to do so because it's art. miley again, you know, i think that she could've went out and sang the song in a flannel shirt and a pair of jeans and it would have still been just as strong. would we have been here talking about it? no way. >> it wouldn't have had the same effect. >> no way. we wouldn't be talking about it. >> she married a great song with a brilliant marketing campaign. i want to play a clip. this is from a new documentary she's made which hasn't been released yet, but it has the moment. and when she talks about the build-up to what happened. >> you're always going to make people talk. you might as well make them talk for like two weeks rather than two seconds. >> i love that. >> wow. >> what that shows is somebody who has really thought this through. she didn't want to make just a small impact. she wanted to make a global impact which lasted several weeks and, boy did she do that. now right now today, miley cyrus number one in america and number one in pretty much every country in the western world. job done from a marketing point of view. >> well, miley is a very, very smart young lady. and reinvention is tough, you know, it's that intangible. you either find it or you don't. and sometimes it takes that evolution. as my buddy said, you know, finding your sound, that's the intangible. that's the part you can't buy. you find it or you have it or you don't. miley has been around a lot of the greats like dolly who have went through that continual process of reinvention. miley's smart enough to know that to come out of the shadows of hannah montana, it really takes something extremely drastic. which when you go to that level, it creates passion and passion is either love or hate. but there's no middle of the road for passion. >> does she have any regrets about it? or is she loving every second of the mayhem it's caused? >> she's been so busy. i mean every single night she's in the studio. she's writing, creating, rehearsing for this big show. >> she's probably watching tonight. miley, if you're watching, keep it going. but we're watching the video from "wrecking ball." let me ask you, i'm a dad. just had a little baby girl, she's nearly 2 years old. so i'm going to go through all this when she's in her teens and stuff. and i don't know how comfortable i will feel if i see my girl suddenly turning into a twerker. what is it like for the dad in you? not the artist, but the dad billy ray to watch his girl on stage, not wearing many clothes, doing the twerking and then the wrecking ball and so on? >> piers, let me warn you, it gets even stranger when that little girl becomes a young lady -- >> right. >> and you go on twitter and you see where people have put her on top of your head. and i've seen the craziest things just looking -- and i get a laugh out of it too. i've seen crazy stuff. twitter has been just -- it's the universal language. you stay in touch, again, with the love and the hate. but that's people's emotions. >> does any of it make you feel uncomfortable as a dad or not? >> as a dad? >> yeah. >> not really -- >> i'm curious. i think this is brilliant, but i'm thinking if i was billy ray and i've got the pleasure of knowing you pretty well. i just wonder what the dad in you feels. whether you can celebrate the glory of the pop moment but also be a little bit like, my girl's grown up. >> there she is. that's very accurate there. and, you know, for me to think how hard she's worked to get to this point and what a risk, just the fact that she went and cut her hair off. that was huge. she could've -- she could've stayed hannah montana forever and made a great living doing that. but she's more of an artist than that. and she wanted to evolve and she had to take her time, let that evolution take place. and, again, she's very, very smart and she's had all of this thought out in advance. there's been times where i've seen, you know, things going on with miley. she knows the chart, she set a path, she knew what she wanted to do. in today's world, the shock factor is tremendously higher than it used to be. >> and also with miley, i always feel, is that like we see her stumbling out of nightclubs or in some sort of scandal or, you know, sort of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll stuff you might see with lindsay lohan and others, i've not seen that side to her. i mean, have i missed it all or has she been pretty good? >> she's never been arrested, you know. she's really very focused and loves way she's doing. that's the main thing for me as a dad to see my little girl doing what she loves, making the music that she loves to make and hanging out with some incredibly talented producers, singer/songwriters, the musicians, the people that's around her right now. it's just a great creativity. >> you've been through this after "achy breaky heart," i remember that well. and also her mom. i've been chatting with, i've never really talked to before. delightful lady, very strong and very close to miley, as well. but let me put this to you. you're part of the parental television counsel known for conservative values. they attacked the performance and said mtv once again had succeeded using former child stars and so on. you've seen all that. >> yeah. >> you're a responsible guy and i know you're a respectful man in that sense. what is your response to those like that council and people who have subscribed to it who have got serious concerns about what miley did. >> well, i'm on the council, you know. i will say in ten years, i don't recall ever being invited to a meeting. so i'm not exactly sure what the council does. but i started -- >> well, they get very angry about things like miley. >> they sure do too. my first series was called doc then we came and did hannah montana. i've been on that council for a while. but, you know, hey, everybody's entitled to their opinions, you know. you know the old saying -- you know the old saying, right? you don't want me to say it, do you? >> you can. >> well, opinions are like everybody has one. you know what i'm talking about. >> on a personal level. >> fill in the word. >> did you get angry when people would go after miley given she's only 20 and they attack her. a lot of it's very positive, but a lot of it's vicious. >> i'm her daddy. it's -- i think at times, you know, being her dad i -- i may take it a little more serious. that's my daughter, you know. but i have had to learn. just stay focused on what you love, do what you do because you love it. be thankful and grateful for the fans that you have that do appreciate the art that you make. and you know what, again, you know for every action there's an opposite and equal reaction. >> did you ever think she'd be the biggest pop star in the world, though? she's been famous but this is a whole new level, isn't it? >> it does seem like a whole new level. and yeah, she has been very famous. but she has risen to a whole new level. and it's -- i thought i'd seen it all until these last couple of weeks. and the whole thing kind of went to a whole new level. >> well, i think she's terrific, miley cyrus. >> thank you. i think she is too. >> brilliant bit of pop marketing. she's got great parents and a great plan and she's having fabulous success. long may she continue. let's take a break and come back and talk about other things. you were telling me you watched the rick warren interview the other night and were moved by that. i want to talk to you about that and about other stuff going on in the country right now. >> okay. did you know, your eyes can lose vital nutrients as you age?