Even a famous woman like Dolly Parton has her secrets, things like how many times she has been married or the number of times she has gone on a Dollywood ride! Thankfully we have all the answers to these questions!
Get the full scoop on some fascinating facts on this famous gal – here you may find out about her humble past to her present political beliefs, her 50-year old private marriage and more, all you have to do is click Next!
Dolly’s Origins
Born on January 19, 1946, in Sevierville, Tennessee, Dolly Rebecca Parton was the fourth child. Her dad worked in construction while her mom was a housewife who had a lot of her plate from raising 12 kids at home.
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According to Parton, her “dirt-poor” family lived in a one-room cabin in a valley somewhere in the Great Smokey Mountains – hardly a star-studded beginning for the future actress. Growing up in a Pentecostal area, Dolly was raised in the church. At the young age of six years, her performing career began at church. At eight years old, her uncle gave her the first real guitar she ever had.
Child Actress and Singer
Some celebrities started their careers when they were children, and Dolly Parton was one of them. Moving onto bigger stages, she began singing on local TV and radio programs in Eastern Tennessee. At ten years of age, Dolly found her way into the WBIR-TV and WIVK radio shows and The Cas Walker Show in Knoxville.
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When she was 13 years old, Parton was fortunate enough to sing at the Grand Ole Opry hotel and meet the legendary Johnny Cash. From an established star to a budding one, Cash encouraged her to continue pursuing her dreams and instincts.
Post-High School Musical
After graduating from Sevier Country High School in 1964, Dolly moved to Nashville in hopes of making it big in the state capital. However, it would be a while before she would get her first big break as a singer. In the meantime, she often wrote song lyrics with her uncle Bill Owens, even netting the two top ten hits “Put It Off Until Tomorrow” by Bill Phillips in 1966 and “Fuel the Flame” by Skeeter Davis in 1967.
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Parton also helped compose lyrics for other well-known artists like Hank Williams Jr. and Kitty Wells. Even though she played a crucial role as a songwriter, Dolly wanted to be on the stage singing.
From Bubblegum Pop Singles to Country Album
Luckily for her, Parton was signed to Monument Records in 1965 when she was 19. As usual for teenage singers in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, she was to sing bubblegum pop songs that were upbeat but also one-hit wonders that didn’t really advance the singers’ careers.
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During this period, Dolly released singles that unfortunately never reached the Billboard Hot 100. She was able to foray into country music when she sang the harmony on one of Bill Phillips’ 1966 hit songs. In 1967 she came out with the full-length album Hello, I’m Dolly, which had two hit songs that made it to 17th and 24th place on the country song charts.
Television Fame
Following Johnny Cash’s advice years prior, Parton kept going until she was accepted by the audience with Porter’s help. She starred on the show for seven years, finally leaving her role in 1974. In between, the duo also released many hit songs, with an impressive six-year streak of top ten singles.
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Riding on her success with her first country album, Dolly was invited by Porter Wagoner to join his roadshow as well as to star on The Porter Wagoner Show on TV. Having replaced star Norma Jean, the audience was not happy with the new casting choice and made their dissent by chanting Norma Jean’s name whenever possible.
Going It Solo
While working with Porter Wagoner, Parton was signed to the RCA Victor music label. Under that company, she released her first hit song “Just Because I’m A Woman”, which was released in the summer of 1968. The song reached No. 17 on the country music charts, a relatively moderate success.
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Although she parted ways with Wagoner having several hit songs under her belt, the singles she released through the late 1960s never went as high on the charts as those she released with Wagoner. Wagoner persuaded her to record “Mule Skinner Blues”, a song that was originally released by Jimmie Rodgers. Good thing she listened to her former musical partner – this was the fortuitous start to her solo musical career.
Topping the Charts
After her version of “Mule Skinner Blues” reached No. 3 on the charts, Dolly recorded the No. 1 chart-topping single “Joshua”. She saw her songs dominate the charts, and also recorded duets with Wagoner. In 1971, her trademark song “Coat Of Many Colors” secured a No. 4 spot on the charts.
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Her successful singles included songs like “Touch Your Woman”, “Tennessee Mountain Home”, and “Travelin’ Man”, which were released between 1972 and 1973. In the latter half of 1973, Dolly released “Jolene”, which was her most successful song at the time. In addition to topping the country charts, it also made it to the U.K. charts across the pond.
Return to Pop Music
Having left bubblegum pop music in her past, Dolly did decide to transition back to pop music between 1976 and 1977. During this time, she found personal manager Sandy Gallin, with whom she would work over the next 25 years of her career.
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Parton co-produced her 1976 album All I Can Do with Wagoner, who was also a country music artist but the album was geared more towards mainstream and pop music fans. This was a smart move from Parton as it only helped to grow her fame.
Awards and Accolades
Another one of Dolly’s albums, Trio was a critically acclaimed success that helped her stay at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Country Albums chart for a solid five weeks in 1987. It had four Top 10 hit songs, not to mention it was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year and (even more impressively) won the Grammy Award for the Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
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In 1999, Dolly Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in recognition for her successes in country music over the years. Not limited to country music, she enjoyed success in bluegrass music, releasing albums that won her a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album and Best Female Country Vocal Performance.
Songwriting Over the Years
Remember how Dolly started out as a songwriter? Even though her passion was in singing, she always held songwriting close to her heart. Indeed, she wrote lyrics for the massive hit “I Will Always Love You”, which has been sung by Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard, LeAnn Rimes in her album Unchained Melody: The Early Years, and Kenny Rogers in his album Vote for Love.
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In 1980 and 2005, Dolly was even nominated for an Academy Award for the acclaimed songs “9 to 5” and “Travelin’ Thru”, the latter of which was also nominated for the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and the Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
TV Actress, Singer, Songwriter, and Businesswoman
Dolly Parton didn’t just do well in singing and songwriting – she also succeeded as a businesswoman, which if you ask any artist is no mean feat. True to her Tennessee roots, she invested much of her earnings into local businesses in Pigeon Forge in eastern Tennessee. She is even the co-owner of The Dollywood Company, which runs the Dollywood theme park based on the iconic performer.
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The Dollywood Company also operated Dollywood’s Splash Country, Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede (a dinner theatre with branches in Pigeon Forge; Branson, Missouri; and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina), and another dinner theatre. The Lumberjack Feud Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge was also bought by The Dollywood Company, which was renovated and reopened in 2016.
Taking Centre Stage
Add another accomplishment to Dolly Parton’s already-impressive résumé: acting. With her big break on The Porter Wagoner Show early on in her career, she has occasionally appeared on stage throughout the years. She starred in her own show Dolly! in the mid-1970s and another TV program in the mid-1980s.
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In the movie 9 to 5 (for which she sang an Oscar-nominated song), she also plays a secretary who allies with her co-workers, all of whom are sick of their sexist boss. Her second film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas was also a musical that showed in theatres in 1982. The two movies were praised by critics and enjoyed widespread international success.
Getting Married
On May 30, 1966, Dolly Parton married Carl Thomas Dean in Ringgold, Georgia. Although her official name is “Dolly Parton Dean”, she chooses not to use this name in show business. A highly private man, Carl headed a Nashville-based asphalt paving business, preferring to stay away from the cameras and lights. He rarely attends Dolly’s events – in fact, he has only seen one of her performances. Don’t be fooled – Dolly says that Carl is a very romantic husband who likes to surprise her.
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While they don’t have any kids, they helped take care of Dolly’s brothers and sisters. On their 50th wedding anniversary in 2016, the couple renewed their vows, proving that some unions can stand the test of time and the rigours of the show business industry.
Staying Young
As actors age over the years, some may choose to have plastic surgery to keep their young looks. Dolly Parton has had many procedures done, commenting in an interview that “It’s like what I always say: I may look fake but I’m real where it counts.” It may have its personal and practical benefits too – she is able to apply her makeup in 15 minutes, being able to be her beautiful self whenever and wherever. To her, “I’m quite content with who I am/And if you ain’t, well, kiss my ham.”
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To those interviewers who press her about her appearance she says “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.” She thinks that people should be able to craft their personal looks and that no one should pressure a woman to look a certain way.
A Competition She Didn’t Win
While walking on Santa Monica Boulevard, Dolly Parton came across a Dolly Parton lookalike contest and decided to participate for fun. Humorously, she lost to someone else who apparently was judged to resemble the famous star more than herself.
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To be fair, most of the contestants were guys who were dressed in highly exaggerated drag, while she “just walked up on stage…I didn’t win. I didn’t even come close, I don’t think.” We don’t know how she managed to lose her own lookalike contest, but to us, she’s endearing just the way she is.
Dollywood Rides
No one really knows how many times Dolly has gone on the rides in Dollywood. Imagine the fun you could have if you were a co-owner of the company that operates the amusement park, and so do not have to wait in line.
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Surprisingly, she has not even gone on one ride! Why? She has serious motion sickness. According to her, “My daddy used to say, ‘I could never be a sailor. I could never be a miner. I could never be a pilot,’ I am the same way. I have motion sickness. I could never ride some of these rides. I used to get sick on the school bus.”
Does Dolly Have Tattoos?
There have been many rumours on whether Dolly is inked. She doesn’t usually wear revealing blouses or sleeveless dresses, so it is difficult to find out. But when she does, paparazzi and photographers are quick to find out that there is definitely something going on in those areas she doesn’t show to the public, putting a little colour into those stories. However, Roseanne Barr and Jennifer Saunders from Absolutely Fabulous have confirmed that they got the answer after seeing Parton in a restaurant.
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After the incident, Barr spilled the beans on Craig Ferguson’s show, saying “I shouldn’t even tell this. Dolly Parton is totally tattooed…She showed me…She’s got all these awesome tattoos all over the body—no black or blue lines, all like, pastel gorgeous bows all over everything.” No one really knows for sure why, but it is said that the tattoos were done to conceal the scars from all her plastic surgeries.
Hannah Montana’s Godmother
Who knew that Dolly Parton is the godmother of Miley Cyrus? The two pop and country singers gave a beautiful rendition of “Jolene” as a duet, giving life and a new direction to the song with their great voices and different styles. In 2014, Parton was asked about Miley’s rebellion of her self-image and her new look and act.
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Dolly said that she has cared about Miley since the latter was a baby. Parton thinks that Miley wanted to create her own image but no one would let her, so she went a bit overboard with it. At the end of the day, the godmother hopes that her talented goddaughter will make the right choices.
Backing Her Goddaughter
After Miley’s infamous rebellion in 2014 that was captured by the media, Parton stood behind her goddaughter when Miley was a lot wilder and unbridled than she is today. In her interview with TIME, Dolly said “If I didn’t know how smart and talented Miley is, I might worry about her. But I’ve watched her grow up. So I don’t. She knows what she’s doing.
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She was very proud of the work she did as Hannah Montana, but people were gonna leave her there forever… The girl is smart. And she doesn’t have to be so drastic. But I will respect her choices. I did it my way, so why can’t she do it her way?”
Like Godmother, Like Goddaughter
After leaving Disney, Miley showcased her new image with several lewd concert performances, for which she attracted a lot of media attention and public criticism. Parton weighed in on the matter, reflecting on how her origins weren’t too different from her goddaughter’s. In an interview with The Sunday Times in 2016, Parton was asked if she understood what Miley was going through.
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She responded, “Yeah, well I do, ’cause back in the day, doing my own things my own way, and dressing sexy and showing my cleavage and all that, I got a lot of criticism. Lots of people thought I was making a mistake and that I was just trashy, which I was. So I did go through that, but I don’t give her advice. Everyone has to walk this journey according to their own rules.”
Inspired by a Tramp
Dolly Parton actually got her inspiration for her famous dolled-up look from a tramp. Growing up, Dolly saw this lady of the night in her town, who also had voluminous blonde hair, red lips, and a curvy physique. She would imitate this look and make it her own. Dishing it out to ABC News, Dolly said “There was this woman, we won’t call her names, but she was beautiful.
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Dishing it out to ABC News, Dolly said “There was this woman, we won’t call her names, but she was beautiful. I had never seen anybody, you know, with the yellow hair all piled up and the red lipstick and the rouge and the high heeled shoes, and I thought, ‘This is what I want to look like.’”
Closet Dolly?
Some of us may have tight friendships with people we have known since we were young. While most of us won’t make it big in Hollywood, Dolly was the object of scrutiny because of her closeness with childhood friend Judy Ogle. Rumours began to circulate that Dolly was a lesbian. When people started comparing Dolly and Judy to Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King, Parton decided to settle things once and for all. Sitting down with Nightline, she told the world “Like Gayle, her friend, Judy, my friend, they just think that you just can’t be that close to somebody.
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Judy and I have been best friends since we were like in third and fourth grade… We still just have a great friendship and relationship and I love her as much as I love anybody in the whole world, but we’re not romantically involved.”
Making It On Her Own
Some people knew about Dolly Parton from her days on The Porter Wagoner Show, but few know about their falling out once she became famous. After seven years of working with the country performer on the show and with two successful albums, Parton called it quits on February 19, 1974. It became known that it wasn’t always smooth sailing between the two.
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As Dolly recalled to CMT, “I was trying to get away on my own because I had promised to stay with Porter’s show for five years. I had been there for seven. And we fought a lot. We were very much alike. We were both stubborn.”
Butting Heads
Because they kept having disagreements, Parton eventually realised that she had to break away from Wagoner to go down her own path. “We both believed that we knew what was best for us. Well, he believed he knew what was best for me, too, and I believed that I knew more what was best for me at that time. So, needless to say, there was a lot of grief and heartache there, and he just wasn’t listening to my reasoning for my going.”
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Sometimes bad things can get worse, which was what happened here. Wagoner took Dolly to court for breach of contract, which understandably caused some hard feelings between the former duo many years after they separated.
Mending Hearts
However, before she left, Dolly had Wagoner listen to a particular song she wrote for him……which ended up being the hit “I Will Always Love You”! Dolly told CMT that “It’s saying, ‘Just because I’m going don’t mean I won’t love you. I appreciate you and I hope you do great and I appreciate everything you’ve done, but I’m out of here…’” Going on, she said “I took it in the next morning.
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I said, ‘Sit down, Porter. I’ve written this song, and I want you to hear it.’ So I did sing it. And he was crying. He said, ‘That’s the prettiest song I ever heard. And you can go, providing I get to produce that record.’ And he did, and the rest is history.”
Reconciliation
In spite of that heart-warming moment, the musical pair were still estranged for several years as Dolly established her fame as a solo artist. However, she would be by her mentor’s side when he was on his deathbed. In 2007, the 80-year-old Porter Wagoner was in his last days in his struggle with lung cancer. Before he passed, Parton knew that she had to mend her relationship with the man who was instrumental in catapulting her to stardom.
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Like Porter was with her at the beginning of her career, she was there with him at the end of his life. She told Knoxville’s News-Sentinel, “It was really, really hard. I held his hand, and we prayed… Porter’s soul was already with God. All that was left was a shell.”
A Historical Musical Success
Not all songs are created equal – some were destined for greatness. Dolly’s “I Will Always Love You” was a hit when she performed it, but it embedded itself into a legend in Whitney Houston’s rendition in the 1992 movie The Bodyguard. After the tragic death of the talented vocalist, the song was played at her funeral. Dolly said to Nightline, “When they played it at her funeral and they lifted her coffin up, man, it was like somebody stabbed me in the heart with a knife. It just overwhelmed me.” It probably wasn’t an easy decision, but Dolly re-recorded the song in 1982.
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In doing so, she became the first artist to top the charts with the same song, which was an impressive achievement considering that Houston’s version of the song held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks. In fact, “I Will Always Love You” is historically the best-selling single by a female artist.
A Feud with Whitney?
With Whitney’s version of “I Will Always Love You” getting more acclaim than Parton’s, many people thought that Dolly’s re-recording of the song showed that she was jealous of the song’s success. As they do, tabloids began to spread rumours of a feud between Parton and Houston in the early ‘90s. In reality, this could not have been farther from the truth. Both performers held the other in high esteem. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Whitney recounted the time she personally thanked Dolly: “I talked to Dolly Parton by phone not too long ago,” she said in 1993.
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“She said to me [imitates Dolly’s accent]: ‘Whitney, I just want to tell you something. I’m just honoured that you did my song. I just don’t know what to tell you, girl.’ I said, ‘Well, Dolly, you wrote a beautiful song.’ And she said: ‘Yeah, but it never did that well for me. It did well for you because you put all that stuff into it.’”
A Performer Helping Kids Read
Not many people know this, but the singer/songwriter/actor helps run a program to help kids read! Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library – a part of the Dollywood Foundation – sends a book each month to every kid who is enrolled in the program until he or she enters kindergarten.
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Around 1,600 communities are partnered with the program, which also operates internationally to help approximately 850,000 children in Australia, the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. The program helps kids to get interested in reading books – you may want to get interested kids (and their parents) to sign up for free books!
The Imagination for the Imagination Library
You may wonder why Dolly decided to start a reading program, and rightfully so. During a 2015 interview with Paper, Dolly said “Where it all really started was with my daddy. He was, without a doubt, the smartest man I have ever known, but he could not read very well. Daddy did an incredible job of providing a good life for our family but there is no telling what he could have achieved if he had learned to read.
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So the Imagination Library is just one way for me to honour him…” She also explained, “Not long before he passed, he told me he was more proud of me for the Imagination Library than anything else I had ever done. I’ll never forget that moment. So every time I am called the Book Lady, I think of my Daddy.”
Parton’s Philanthropy
Dolly’s work with The Dollywood Foundation helps a lot of people around the country who are in need. The company employs people to create jobs that can inject growth in a local area that is struggling. Dolly herself has also helped raise funds for HIV/AIDS charities and the American Red Cross.
In 2006, she donated $500,000 towards building a hospital and cancer centre in Sevierville. She gave a commencement speech to the University of Tennessee Class of 2009, where she gave graduates the same advice Johnny Cash gave her decades ago – never stop dreaming.
A Heart of Gold
From her humble roots to her place among the greats, Dolly Parton has always had a humble heart that wants to help others. This may be also from her parents, who gave a sack of grains to the doctor who helped bring Dolly into the world. Although we see many celebrities donating lots of money to charity, Parton said to Paper that she doesn’t believe that stars have to be involved in activism and philanthropy.
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To her, “One thing I never do is tell people what they should be doing. All I can do is speak for myself, and I have always felt I had an obligation to give back. For me, it means a lot of different things… You also have to give a big chunk of yourself, but I don’t mind all that is expected from me. It comes with the territory and I would not change one thing.”
Everyone is Welcome
Every year, Dolly holds a “Gay Day” in her Dollywood theme park. The event draws tourists from both the LGBT and Christian communities, where everyone enters into a safe space away from politics and controversies.
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As Parton said in a 2014 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, “It’s a place for entertainment, a place for all families, period. It’s for all that. But as far as the Christians, if people want to pass judgment, they’re already sinning. The sin of judging is just as bad as any other sin they might say somebody else is committing. I try to love everybody.”
She Supports Her Fans
Many LGBT people are big fans of Dolly Parton (maybe because she unwittingly dropped by that lookalike drag contest) and she is just as supportive of their community. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, she said “I’ve struggled enough in my life to be appreciated and understood.
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I’ve had to go against all kinds of people through the years just to be myself,” adding that “I think everybody should be allowed to be who they are and to love who they love. I don’t think we should be judgmental. Lord, I’ve got enough problems of my own to pass judgment on somebody else.”
Her Fans are Like Her Family
Speaking to The Guardian, Dolly said that “I’ve often said people don’t come to see me, they come to see me see them. I’ve fought for the right to be myself, so that is one of the reasons that the gays and lesbians relate to me. They know that I appreciate everybody for who they are.
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We are who we are, so why can’t we be allowed to be that?” She later explained that she felt like she was a supportive family member (an aunt or a big sister) or a friend to her LGBT fans. Not many country singers have such a big LGBT fanbase, but we can see why she does!
Being Different is Okay
Growing up in eastern Tennessee, Dolly didn’t know about the LGBT community and didn’t know anyone who was in it. In 2016, she explained to Pride Source that her family members told her about the LGBT community. To her, “We were just mountain people, and I did not know at that time – I sure did not.
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In my early days, we did not know [what gay was]. It didn’t take me long to know that people were different and that was always fine with me. I was different too, and I embraced and accepted them and I knew them. I knew them well.”
Helping Others Accept Themselves
In that Pride Source interview, she shared that she has family members who identify as LGBT, and she has helped them accept who they are. “Actually,” she said, “I’ve had many people through the years who I have helped to feel good about themselves. I say, ‘You need to let people know who you are and you need to come on out.’
You don’t need to live your life in darkness – what’s the point in that? You’re never gonna be happy; you’re gonna be sick. You’re not gonna be healthy if you try to suppress your feelings and who you are.”
President Parton
Sometimes the media can be wrong. Leading up to the 2016 presidential election, The New York Times wrongly stated that Parton was a supporter of Hillary Clinton, to which Dolly dismissed the statement by saying to The Guardian “I have not endorsed Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.” When asked to clarify what she had said, Parton responded, “Someone asked me, ‘Would I think about a woman being president?’
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I was saying that I think a woman would be great, I’m sure Hillary would be fine. I have not endorsed either candidate. I was only saying I might run myself because I have the hair for it, it’s huge. And I think we could use more boobs in the race. I do not get involved in political things. I have not decided who I am voting for.” Will we be seeing a Parton presidential bid in 2020? Only time will tell.
Mr and Mrs Nuts
As the presidential campaigns were working hard, Parton sat down with CNN reporter Brook Baldwin to promote her “Pure and Simple” tour during the latter part of 2016. Obviously, she was asked about her opinion on the current political situation, to which she voiced what many Americans were thinking: “It’s the greatest show on television right now.
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I don’t know where they’re going to land but I think they’re both nuts.” She added, “Let’s talk about what we really need — taking care of us. I think people just want to have a feeling of security. It’s just like political terrorism right now, they got us all scared to death about everything.”
Saved by Man’s Best Friend
Many people know that Dolly hasn’t always had it easy during her life, but few realize how much she has really endured. In her new book Dolly on Dolly, Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton, the celebrity reveals some bombshell facts. Although she was married to Carl Dean, they had agreed on an open relationship.
She had an affair with an unnamed man, which really hit Parton hard when they broke it off. In the midst of this hardship she was so depressed she thought about suicide. Thankfully, it was Popeye, her Boston Terrier, that brought her out of it – even as she sat on her bed with a gun in her hand. As she mentions in her book, “The tap-tap-tap of his paws jolted me back to reality and I suddenly froze. I put the gun down. Then I prayed. I kinda believe Popeye was a spiritual messenger from God.”
The Proudest Moment of Her Life
In an op-ed for CNN that was published on May 8, 2017, Dolly Parton talks about the proudest moment in her life, and it may not be what you think. It wasn’t on winning her Grammys or other awards or performing her songs – it was aiding the ill-fated victims of the destructive 2016 Tennessee wildfires. Her proudest moment is in raising money through the “My People Fund” to give $1,000 a month since December 2016 to each of the 900 families who have been left homeless in the wake of the fires.
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The week she published the op-ed, she announced that when she hands out the last of the payments over those few days, she would be including an extra $5,000 for each family, bringing the total to $10,000 given to each family since December. According to Parton, “I know $10,000 can’t solve everything, but I do hope the money will help them to dream again.”
She Can Actually Play Instruments
Although we’ve been talking about her many successes as a singer, you may have seen Dolly playing a musical instrument or two as a backup performer in her own shows. Apparently, she doesn’t shy away from challenging herself. Speaking to Vogue in 2016, Parton said, “I play some of everything. I ain’t that good at none of it, but I try to sell it.
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I really try to lay into it.” She added that “My family’s very musical, and everybody played musical instruments, so we just grabbed up anything and tried to play. As I said, I ain’t all that good at it, but I can play enough to make a show!”
More Songs Written Than Sung
Even though she can play many a musical instrument, Dolly’s real passion and talent is in singing and songwriting. Although she had to sing songs to jumpstart her musical career, she has always been fond of songwriting. When she was just seven years old, she composed her first song about her beloved corn-cob doll, with the help of her mom (who wrote the lyrics for her daughter who couldn’t yet write).
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Dolly’s website says that she writes a song about every two to three days (without the help of her mom now). If she started writing songs when she was seven, think about how many songs she has supposedly written over her lifetime – that’s more than 5,000!
Down Time for Songwriting
We all know that Dolly can be really busy performing and touring, so where does she find the time to write all those songs? She actually uses the time between travelling or relaxing after her shows to jot down her thoughts.
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As she told Vogue, “I write a lot when I’m travelling on the bus. To be honest, when I’m on tour, I have more time than any other time to write and to read and to catch up on my business things…You finish the show at 11:00 at night and then you’re done till 8:00 the next evening, so you have a lot of time to write… But I write almost every day, some thoughts, some titles, some song’ll come to me.”
Inspiration for a Lifetime of Performing
Since she was young, Parton has been writing and singing songs, building up her reputation and achievements to match her grand dreams (and she hasn’t let up even at her age). So, what drove her to do all this?
In a 2014 interview with The Guardian, Dolly said, “I didn’t hear a voice, but it was a knowing that came to me, and it said, ‘Run. Run until I tell you to stop and that’s what it’s been, I’ve kept keeping on. And I never let a person, or a thing, nor sickness, nor a heartache, nor anything keeps me from keeping on.” No wonder she took Johnny Cash’s advice to heart.
Her Music is Her Business
Dolly’s successful career wasn’t built only by her tough-as-nails ambition but also by her view of her music career as a business. In 2017, she revealed to BBC News the advice she got from her dad that laid the foundations of a lifelong career in music and performance.
“Even though he wasn’t an educated man, he wasn’t able to read and write, daddy had a great sense of business,” He said, ‘Don’t let other people take advantage of you, keep your mind on your business.’ So when I got into the music business I thought of it as a business.”
How Did She Become So Successful?
Dolly Parton has written a lot of songs over the years, so it’s not surprising that she’s set up a publishing company to manage the intellectual property rights to all her music. As she said to BBC News, “As soon as you start making money, you should invest and get into other businesses that you can fall back on if you don’t make it big, or if you make it big and you fall on hard times.”
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This business mindset has brought her a lot of practical and financial success throughout her career: Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list states that Parton made $37 million between June 2016 to 2017, with a significant amount of those earnings from her Pure and Simple tour as well as her Dollywood amusement park.
Respecting the Other’s Privacy
Dolly’s husband Carl Dean is a very private man, and with Parton often away on tours around the country, how does that work out in their marriage? Very well in fact: Dolly shared with Vogue that “My husband is not one who wants to be just thrown out there. He’s very private, and I’ve always respected that for him and about him. And so, we just try to live our lives.
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Everybody is not entitled to every single thing you do and thought you think, although I do share as much of my life as I possibly can… but there are just some things that are sacred and private.”
Just Silly Rumors
Since Dolly’s been so quiet about her marriage and love life, people can think that she or her husband aren’t faithful to each other, especially considering the time they spend apart from each other. However, Parton and her husband find those rumours amusing. As she said to The Guardian, “Well, the steady marriage is one thing, but my flirtations, all that stuff, that’s something else entirely.
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My husband knows I’m always coming home… Everyone wants to get into the dirt. I wouldn’t tell you if I had. How would I tell that? …Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t. Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t. And it’s none of your [expletive] business!”
She Has A Closet for Her Wigs…
Well-known for her big hair, Dolly flaunts it with style. And to help with her flashy sense of style, she has a closet for her wigs when she goes around touring. “I have a cabinet where I carry all the show wigs. I travel, when I’m on tour, with Cheryl Riddle, who is my hairdresser.
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But we always have a cabinet in the back of the bus to carry show wigs… I can’t really count them all. I always make a joke and say, ‘I wear one almost every day, so I must have at least 365!’” she said to Vogue.
…And A Bunker for Her Dresses!
Get this: Dolly Parton has a literal bunker in her Nashville estate for all the dresses she’s ever worn. Probably a little less travel-friendly than her wig closet. Danny Nozell, manager to the celebrity, told The Guardian, “It’s like a weapons silo. Huge metal doors. You need to blow them off to get in there.”
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With the ever-changing styles over the decades, we probably should expect to find tens of thousands of dresses in that secret bunker. If anything goes down, rest assured that Dolly Parton (and her dresses) will be safe.
Too Iconic for Disguises
With her signature look, Dolly can’t slip into a disguise when she wants to get around incognito. How unfortunate! In 2009, she told the Daily Herald-Tribune that to go Christmas shopping, “I did my makeup completely different with dark eyebrows and wore a short black wig and wore different clothes than I would normally wear.
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And I was in a record shop buying stuff with friends that nobody would have recognized. And I said something, and this group of kids said, ‘You’re Dolly Parton in a black wig.’ My voice is as recognizable as my looks.”
Something Divine About Her
Adored by people all across the globe, Dolly Parton mesmerizes us with a je ne sais quoi that many find attractive. To her, it’s that “God spark”. She divulged to Vogue that “I really do ask God every single day to let me do something, say something, be something that matters to somebody else.
To make somebody feel good. To let people see a spark of love… You’re taught not to judge, and you’re supposed to love your neighbour like yourself. I want to be loved, and so I try to love everybody.”
Extreme Makeover: Dolly Edition
Our childhood can be a source of fondness and warmth in our hearts, which is no different for Dolly Parton. Although not many of us have the resources (or motivation) to do so, she purchased her childhood home in rural Tennessee. Renovating it to match the current zeitgeist, she has also tried to keep it true to how it looked in her younger years.
In an appearance on The Nate Berkus Show, she said that “My brother Bobby is a great carpenter. He worked on it and restored it. What we tried to do was make it look like it did when we lived there, but we wanted it to be functional. So I spent a couple of million dollars making it look like I spent $50 on it! Even like in the bathroom, I made the bathroom so it looked like an outdoor toilet.”
A “Streak” of Success?
With Dolly’s flashy style and personality to match, she’s bound to know how to enjoy herself. She has also flashed (literally). In her response to being asked about the craziest thing she’s done, Dolly dished to Rolling Stone about how she streaked at a stop sign. Trying to one-up her childhood friend Judy as they flashed each other at each stop sign, Dolly knew she had to go all in.
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“I opened up the door and I started walkin’ around the car in the moonlight…then it was like I was immediately exposed! It was like nothing had mattered until then. Then all of a sudden I realized I was naked. I was so embarrassed, but feelin’ so proud that I had done it.”
Dolly’s First Big Break on the Big Screen
In her first on-screen performance in the 1980 film 9 to 5, Dolly Parton starred with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Although she had been previously asked to appear in many different films, this was the first role she accepted.
Sitting down with Rolling Stone that year, Dolly recounted, “I knew instantly that I should do it – I knew that it was a career move… [Jane Fonda] wanted me, and she wanted Lily. She said she was drivin’ down the freeway, and a song of mine came on the radio, and she knew my personality, and she’d been a fan of my songwriting for a long time.”
Preparing for Her Role Her Way
Even though she didn’t have any acting experience prior to starring in 9 to 5, that didn’t stop Parton from putting in her best effort. By now, we know that she is a driven woman who has forged her career by ambition and determination, so it comes as no surprise that she prepared for her role by memorizing the entire script of the movie.
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She admitted to Rolling Stone that she didn’t know better at the time: “It was so funny, ’cause I didn’t know exactly what the movies were all about; I just knew that I would do it as good as anybody else. I just assumed they would start in the front and follow the story to keep up the excitement, so I memorized the whole script.” Kudos to her going all in though!
9 to 5 Reunion and Sending a Message
Decades after they starred alongside each other in 9 to 5, Dolly Parton reunited on with co-stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin at the 2017 Emmy Awards. The reunion itself was nostalgic but what they said reeled in quite a bit of controversy the next day. “Back in 1980, we refused to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot…
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And in 2017, we STILL refuse to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying hypocritical bigot!” To clarify, Parton stayed silent throughout the on-stage speech, with Fonda and Tomlin delivering those heavy-hitting lines the media would snap up and publish. Given the controversy stirred up by President Donald Trump for his remarks against women, many celebrities have used their platform to voice their disagreement.
So Who Did Dolly Vote for?
During the campaigns leading up to the election, we knew that Dolly thought both candidates were crazy. However, by staying hush during her on-stage Emmy appearance (in contrast to Fonda and Tomlin), Parton may have had people guessing that she voted for Trump.
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Parton stated afterwards that the actresses were still talking about 9 to 5 co-star Dabney Coleman and not about the political climate. We don’t know if that was scripted, but the three women seemed to be visibly uncomfortable when they realised they weren’t on the same page.
Dolly, Meet Dolly
Ever wonder where Dolly the Sheep got her name from? Wonder no more – the sheep was named in honour of the actress herself! Born on July 5, 1997, with the help of scientists from the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, the first mammal clone was created from a cell that came from an adult instead of an embryo. A ground-breaking achievement, considering that this was considered highly improbable at the time.
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A cell from the udder of a ewe was implanted into another ewe so that the baby sheep was unrelated to its surrogate mother but was genetically identical to the sheep from which the udder cell was taken. Team leader Dr Ian Wilmut recounted that “Dolly is derived from a mammary gland cell and we couldn’t think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton’s.”