Dolly Parton is one of the most accomplished and celebrated singers of her generation.
But though she may lead a glamorous life, things haven't always been so rosy for the
Queen of Country. This is the tragic truth about Dolly Parton.
There's something undeniably glam about Dolly Parton, what with the big hair, the stunning
makeup, and all those fancy outfits. With that in mind, you'd be forgiven for assuming
she's never really had any money problems — but that couldn't be further from the
truth. In fact, Parton grew up in poverty, alongside 11 other siblings at their small
home in the Smoky Mountains. In a 1978 interview with Larry Grobel, Parton revealed that her
family was so poor, she and her siblings even struggled to stay clean.
"How often did you bathe, once or week or every two weeks?" ""We bathed once a week
once a week whether we needed it or not, as the saying goes."
However, in an essay published by Guideposts, Parton explained that, although her life growing
up was far from charmed, her family nonetheless made it work. She wrote:
"Finding a way to put everything to good use, that was a way of life in the Smokies. It
wasn't just about taking care of what we'd been given. It was about survival, about trying
every day, every minute, to make things a little bit better."
It's not always easy to keep warm in the Smoky Mountains — and Dolly Parton has seen her
fair share of freezing nights. As she wrote in her essay for Guideposts:
"It was so cold the day I came into the world that when the kitchen in our one-room cabin
was mopped, the water left a film of ice on the floor."
Still, all those days spent in poverty taught Parton a thing or two about the important
things in life. As she later told People magazine:
"No matter how much money I make, I'll always count my blessings quicker and more often
than I count my money."
Growing up in difficult times with all those siblings, Parton inevitably forged close relationships
with many of them. Tragically, however, she had to say goodbye to one of her brothers
far too soon: in 1955, Larry Parton passed away when he was only four days old. Naturally,
Parton was heartbroken, as she was especially close to the baby. As she says:
"There is a lot of heartache and stuff that goes on with that."
Then, in 2018, the singer lost another sibling — Dolly's brother Floyd Estel
Parton, who passed away at the age of 61. Dolly and Floyd were especially close, too,
as he'd been a songwriting partner of hers for years. In a statement on Twitter, the
singer wrote:
"Dolly, and the entire Parton Family, wish to thank everyone for their kindness. Yesterday,
we laid our sweet baby brother to rest. We all sang his lovely song, 'Rocking Years',
together as a family at the service to say goodbye to him. He lived a short life of love
and beautiful songs."
Clearly, Dolly Parton had neither a typical childhood nor an easy one; heck, even her
childhood injuries were intense. In fact, the singer almost lost a few body parts during
her youth. In an interview with Dr. Oz, Parton revealed that, when she was a kid, she almost
lost some of her toes. She explained:
"I was probably about six or seven. I had jumped across the fence onto a broken mason
jar and cut three of my toes, just my little toes on my right foot, almost off and they
were just kind of hanging there."
Parton added that it was her mother's quick thinking that saved her, and she quickly sewed
Dolly's toes back on. Of course, that sounds scary enough as is — but it's all the worse
considering the only anesthetic she had to hand was kerosene. Parton added:
"But they worked and they healed and I'm still walking on them."
Dolly Parton didn't grow up with a lot of money, but she still had a few prized possessions
as a child. Specifically, there was a certain gift she was given when she was younger that
meant the world to her. In an interview with YourTango, Parton explained that one of her
uncles had a Martin brand guitar that she was obsessed with — and that he eventually
gave her. She said:
"That was my treasure. When I left it home when I was 18 years old, I put it in the loft
because it was beat up, and when I got money — when I got rich and famous [laughs] — I
was going to have it fixed up."
Sadly, Parton never got the chance to do that, as the loft ended up burning down, taking
most of the guitar with it. Today, all that Parton has left of it is the neck.
Although most people are more familiar with Whitney Houston's legendary cover, Dolly Parton
is actually the original singer and songwriter of "I Will Always Love You."
"It was the most overwhelming thing, that little song of mine could be done so beautifully,
so big, so overwhelming."
But while the song may seem to be about a romantic relationship, it's actually about
one of Parton's longest-running working relationships — one she sadly had to pull the plug on.
In an interview with the Nashville Songwriters Association International, Parton explained
why she wrote the hit ballad. She explained:
"I worked with a show called The Porter Wagoner Show. We kind of butted heads all
the time, but we loved each other."
Parton had appeared on The Porter Wagoner Show for seven years, two years longer than
she had intended. At that point, she decided it was time to leave — but Wagoner himself
was reluctant to let her go. So, Parton did what she does best: she wrote a song about
it. After she performed the song for Wagoner, he finally understood that he had to release
her, after she promised to let him produce it, of course.
Talking about money with family can be awkward for anyone, even if you're not a world famous
country music star — and everyone knows stubborn parents aren't always easy, either.
So maybe it's not a huge surprise that things got pretty difficult for Parton's family when
those two issues collided. The drama first erupted when most of the Parton family decided
their mother, Avie, was no longer able to take care of herself. Before long,
Parton and her siblings were arguing their case before a judge.
In 2001, it was reported that Parton was facing off against her mother in court. Specifically,
as the Houston Chronicle reported, a lawsuit was filed in Sevier County Chancery
Court; in it, Parton and the majority of her siblings claimed that their mother, who was
77 at the time, couldn't look after herself. Because of that, Parton and her siblings requested
their mother hand over control of both her finances and medical issues. Tragically, the
case was still unsettled by the time of Avie's passing, and it's unclear if the family ever
got any closure on the issue.
Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Dean, have been married since 1966, and they're still
together to this day. In one interview, Parton put their success as a couple down to their
ability to be genuine with each other — and to love each other for what they are. She
said:
"He's always loved who I was, and I loved who he was, and we never tried to change each
other."
"We've always had a good time. He's crazy and I'm crazy. We laugh a lot, and I think
that's been the healthiest-- the most precious part of our relationship."
But things haven't always been easy for the pair. After all, it's not always easy to stay
committed in a relationship, and Parton has struggled with this over the years — including
one instance which may well have caused one of the worst depressions of her life.
In the book Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton, Parton explains
that, during the 1980s, she contended with a "special friend," with whom she had a so-called
"affair of the heart." This was despite having married Dean all the way back in 1966. The
affair ended badly, and Parton was left heartbroken by her friend. As a result, Parton began to
binge eat, and before long she was struggling with her weight. That wasn't the end of it,
however — and things were about to get much, much worse for the singer.
As glamorous as her life might look from the outside, Dolly Parton has struggled with her
mental health over the years. In Dolly on Dolly, the singer reveals that, at her lowest
point, she even contemplated taking her own life.
In one of the interviews compiled in the book, Parton describes a period in the '80s in which
she was severely depressed. The problems began with that "affair of the heart" Parton had
engaged in. After that affair ended in heartbreak, the singer's mental health spiralled. On top
of that, she was dealing with family troubles at the time, had received a number of threats
against her life, and was just coming off the back of a nightmarish film shoot. All
these problems led to her canceling a number of performances and stepping out of the limelight
for two whole years.
Everything came to a head one night, when Parton seriously considered taking her own
life. Before she could, however, her dog, Popeye, interrupted her. As Parton recalls:
"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."
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.
Given that Dolly Parton is so well-known, it's not surprising that she's had to deal
with harassment over the course of her long career. In fact, whilst discussing the Me
Too movement in an interview with Elle, Parton revealed that she understands all too well
what it's like for women who've been taken advantage of by powerful men in Hollywood.
She said:
"I've been fortunate, more fortunate than most women have. I've certainly been harassed
in my life. I've certainly had to put up with a lot of BS."
However, Parton added that she felt she was capable of handling that same harassment.
She explained:
"I was always strong enough to walk away from it and not to have to fall under it."
Nonetheless, the singer also believes that things weren't as bad in her hometown as they
might have been elsewhere. Parton told Elle:
"I was lucky that I was in a good country town, where the men in the business have wives,
and sisters, and cousins, and children. It’s not like out there in the big world, like
in California, where they chew you up and spit you out, or in New York, where they don’t
have time, or in other big cities."
Over the years, Dolly Parton has remained child-free — a choice that some of her fans
may have questioned. But not having kids wasn't always the plan for Parton and her husband;
in fact, it appears as though the two weren't able to start a family at all. In an interview
with The Guardian, Parton said:
"My husband and I, when we first got married, we thought about if we had kids, 'What would
they look like? Would they be tall because he's tall? Or would they be little squats
like me?'"
But as time went on, Parton came to realize that children just weren't on the cards for
her. She continued:
"We talked about it, and we dreamed it, but it wasn't meant to be."
While it may have disappointed Parton and her husband to have never had children, the
singer feels that things turned out for the best. Parton told The Guardian:
"Now that we're older? We're glad. I would have been a great mother, I think. I would
probably have given up everything else. Because I would’ve felt guilty about that, if I’d
have left them [to work, to tour]. Everything would have changed. I probably wouldn’t
have been a star.”