HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Anna Maria Perez de Tagle says the recent controversy surrounding Miley Cyrus' photo spread in Vanity Fair magazine has been difficult on her "Hannah Montana" partner in crime.
"It really hurt her inside," Perez de Tagle, who stars alongside Cyrus on the hit Disney series, told E! Online. "She didn't know that people would look at it like that."
Cyrus, 15, apologized to her fans after taking part in a Vanity Fair photo shoot with notorious photographer Annie Leibovitz, in which the teen sensation appeared in provocative fashion.
"I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed," Cyrus said in a statement last month, through her publicist. "I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about."
Perez de Tagle, 17, admitted there have been times when the two actresses are speaking, where she picks up on the need to lift her friend's spirits.
"Sometimes I'll talk to her on the phone and she'll be like, 'It's really hard' or 'I'm really tired. I can't do this,' she revealed. "But I'll always say, 'You do want to do this. You love your job.' And she's like, 'Yeah.' "
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