Kenny Rogers Offers Advice to Young Stars Like Bieber & Miley

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ETONLINE

With almost 60 years in the music business, Kenny Rogers can tell today's young stars a thing or two about how to survive scandals in this era of zero privacy.

"I found out a long time ago: if you try to hide it, somebody is going to find it. If you tell them, nobody cares," Kenny, 75, told ET special correspondent Martina McBride at the Country Music Hall of Fame. "Just fess up and move on with your life."

Kenny has had more than 165 million records sold, but the country music legend is still going strong, doing about a hundred dates a year. He filled Martina in on what keeps him motivated.

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"I have 10-year-old boys," said the father of five. "Does that explain anything to you?"

The Country Music Hall of Fame is celebrating Kenny's illustrious career with the exhibit, Through the Years, but music isn't Kenny's only talent. He's also an award-winning photographer. He gave Martina backstory for his 1986 photo shoot with Michael Jackson.

"I called him and I said, 'Will you do this for me? I'm trying to do this book.' And he said, 'Absolutely!'" Kenny told Martina. "I said, 'Michael, I will only have you do 15 minutes: two colors, two black and whites and you're out of there. And he came over and he brought Bubbles, his chimpanzee, and he stayed eight hours, because he wanted to talk. He didn't have anyone he could chit chat with."

Watch the video for a look back at one of Kenny's duets with Dolly Parton.