I dont' think it's fair to expect a teenager always to be perfect. She is right, she IS just trying to figure it out. It's unfair pressure on her to expect perfection every time the media is paying attention.
It's a role model's "job" to live his/her life according to some principles. It's the choice of the public to accept that as role model behavior or not.
It's the parent's responsibility to talk with their children about the behavior of people they've elected as role models.

What is she, 16? Get a grip, here. Be sure to let us all judge your daughter's behavior at that age.

Eve, I don't think my daughter will be holding herself out as a public role model at that age. I'm just wondering about what Miley Cyrus is really saying. Does she want to be a "role model" or doesn't she? What is a teenage "role model" supposed to do if not behave in an exemplary fashion?

Key issue is that she is a role model because she is a public figure, has purposely marketed herself in the public arena and is famous due to her role on a famous Disney series. That Hanna Montana show targets the 9-15 year old set (predominantly made up of young girls) and as such, she is a role model ... like it or not. When you play in this sphere and are in a big business like Hollywood, you have to take assume certain burdens along with fame. Andthe pressure of perfection is part of the celebrity package and one assumes it when they enter a public acting career. Thus, it comes down to whether she wants to provide positive role modeling to the girls who look up to her ... now that takes maturity, backbone and a look inside herself as to who she is and who see wants to be.

It is the child who picks their role models, so the parent better be ready to talk to their kid about what choices their role models makes in life. If Hanna Montana had flopped then no one would care what Ms. Cyrus did as long as it was here choice and she did it with the consent of her parents. Ms. Cyrus is a person and should not be held to any standard you would not hold to any other young woman. I have heard of nothing she has done that is any worse than what most teens do. In fact, I have not heard of anything that could not be topped by stories from most parents I know when talking about their own teen years.

Lets give Miley a break. She has a point. Even adults are having a hard time teaching children what is right or wrong, how do you expect a teenager to do it perfectly?