Country music legend Dolly Parton is as famous for her cheerful demeanour and larger-than-life
appearance as she is for her iconic music. Sadly, however, Parton has also lived through
her fair share of tragedy, both professional and personal. These are the tragic details
of Dolly Parton's life.
Dolly Parton had a tough childhood, to say the least — although you'd hardly know it,
considering her vast catalog of romantic, homespun music. But while songs like "My Tennessee
Mountain Home" may offer up a picturesque view of Parton's early days, the reality was
anything but.
Parton and her siblings lived in a two-bedroom cabin in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, with no
electricity or running water.
"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."
A recreation of the home, which had just one bed and kitchen table for the whole family,
resides at Dollywood, where the singer claims it has a special place in her heart. Her mother,
Avie Lee, took care of the 12 kids, instilling in them the importance of making the best
of what they had. Although Parton's father, Robert Lee, was illiterate, the singer remembers
him as one of the most intelligent men she's ever known, and he worked hard to support
the family.
The Partons had their ways of making ends meet, though. For example: in her memoir,
Dolly's younger sister, Stella, recounts her father bribing a doctor with a bag of grain
to deliver Dolly when they couldn't afford it. But tragedy hit the poverty-stricken family
in 1955, when the 9-year-old Parton's younger brother, Larry, died four days after his birth.
In 2015, the singer told TV Critics:
"There is a lot of heartache and stuff that goes on with that. [But] that is what makes
you who and what you are."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Dolly Parton had a knack for music at an early age. She accompanied
her uncle, Bill Owens, on trips to Nashville at age 10 before moving there after high school
in 1964. Owens was instrumental in helping Parton establish herself, and the two secured
a deal with Monument Records in 1965. Unfortunately, this didn't amount to much. Parton's first
singles "I Wasted My Tears" and "What Do You Think About Lovin'" didn't take off, and "Happy,
Happy Birthday Baby" peaked at a measly No. 108 on the pop charts.
After Parton and Owens wrote 1966's "Put It Off Until Tomorrow," however, Monument allowed
the singer to embrace her southern sensibilities for her first solo album, 1967's Hello, I'm
Dolly. The record's success was surprising, considering she was largely an unknown artist
at the time. Nonetheless, Hello, I'm Dolly propelled Parton into the big time, landing
her with her big break and gaining the attention of the musician and television host Porter
Wagoner.
After seven years on Porter Wagoner's variety show, Parton believed she had garnered enough
success to finally go solo. She later explained:
"I didn't want to just be somebody's girl singer forever."
Unfortunately, her solo endeavors had a few missteps, including her own short-lived syndicated
show, Dolly!, which ran for just one season in the 1970s. In a 2018 interview with Billboard,
the singer explained that she carries no regrets, even though she views the show as a, quote,
"mistake." Parton added:
"It wasn't what I wanted it to be and I wasn't able to be my own self in it."
It seems Parton also took issue with her earlier, more commercial material. While she wrote
half the songs on 1980's 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs, she admitted to Rolling Stone that same year
that she didn't like her last few albums, even though they got her where she wanted
to be. Following the success of "9 to 5" and its accompanying film, however, the singer
felt that she finally had the freedom to make music her way.
In December 2018, Dolly Parton's family was dealt yet another blow when her younger brother,
Floyd Parton, passed away at just 61-years-old. Remembered in his obituary as "a renaissance
man" with "many talents," Floyd and Dolly had a close relationship during his lifetime.
Together, the two siblings had penned some of her biggest No. 1 hits, including 1991's
"Rockin' Years," which featured Ricky Van Shelton, and 1978's "Nickels and Dimes" from
Parton's Heartbreaker LP.
The loss was devastating for Parton, who, aside from a joint statement with her family,
has never publicly discussed her brother's passing. The statement read:
"Yesterday, we laid our sweet baby brother to rest. We all sang his lovely song, ‘Rockin’
Years,’ together as a family at the service to say goodbye to him. He lived a short life
of love and beautiful songs."
After a decades-spanning career, Dolly Parton has seen a fair share of her contemporaries
pass away. The loss of country singer Porter Wagoner, who helped kick start her career,
was particularly hard on her. She even penned 1973's "I Will Always Love You" — which
Whitney Houston re-recorded for 1992's The Bodyguard — about their professional split.
At the time, Parton's decision to go solo had caused some friction between the pair,
but they had made up by the time he passed away from lung cancer in 2007. After Wagoner
died, Parton told the media:
"Part of him will always live through me and my music."
Parton also revealed that she had sung to Wagoner on his deathbed, saying:
"It felt good that I had the opportunity to say goodbye properly."
Then, in 2017, Parton's longtime manager Don Warden died of unknown causes. After working
together for almost 50 years, Parton called him "Mr. Everything." In a post on her website,
she wrote:
"I’ve known and loved Don Warden since I joined The Porter Wagoner Show in 1967. He
was like a father, a brother, a partner and one of my best friends. I feel like a piece
of my heart is missing today. Certainly a huge piece of my life is gone."
The loss of country singer Kenny Rogers in 2020 also came as a great shock to Parton.
The two famously duetted on hits such as "Islands in the Stream," and after his death, Parton
took to social media to remember him.
"I loved Kenny with all my heart. My heart's broken, and a big chunk of it has gone with
him today."
Inspired by her time in Hollywood, Dolly Parton redeveloped a Tennessee theme park and opened
it as Dollywood in 1986. While its success quickly led to the opening of a new water
park, and the park's website boasts that it's the "largest ticketed attraction in Tennessee",
the business hasn't been without its problems. On the opening day of the Thunder Express
roller coaster in 1989, for example, 18 people were injured after the ride experienced a
brake malfunction.
Unfortunately, guest injuries have continued to be a recurring problem. In 2004, a woman
visiting from out of state fell from a moving train car, although officials later ruled
that Dollywood was not at fault for the incident. The park's Timber Tower ride was also eventually
removed, following a malfunction in 2007 which left 44 riders stranded for hours. Then, in
2015, a woman sued the park after claiming she had suffered brain damage after falling
from a ride, although the two parties later settled.
The park made headlines yet again in 2018 when a mother of two sued the park for $2
million after injuring her spine at the waterpark. The media reported that a "themed decoration"
had fallen and hit guests, sending three people to the hospital, albeit in a stable condition.
Parton is said to be informed about every park accident, as she considers each and every
visitor a member of her own family.
With her ever-present smile, glamorous looks, and hopeful aura, Dolly Parton is nothing
short of a ray of sunshine — publicly, at least. But in Dolly on Dolly, a 2017 collection
of interviews, the singer revealed how she had experienced some especially turbulent
times during the '80s. After a so-called "affair of the heart" during her "seemingly open marriage,"
Parton ended up on the brink of suicide. She said:
"For about six months there I woke up every morning feeling dead."
At this point in her career, she was also navigating family drama and health issues,
and was reeling from a nightmare experience on-set of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Parton recalls that, after binge-eating, canceling her tour, and falling into a deep depression,
she found herself eying a handgun in her house — before her dog Popeye came looking for
her. Parton explained:
"The tap-tap-tap of his paws jolted me back to reality. [...] I kind of think it was God's
way of bringing me to my knees long enough to pray."
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
Dolly Parton and her husband Carl Dean have been happily married since 1966, although
they never had any children of their own. In 2003, she told Larry King:
"I wanted children when we first met. All girls do. But that did not happen."
The couple had their hands full when they first met, raising five of Parton's younger
brothers and sisters. Their own plans for a family then took a backseat in 1982, when
Parton was rushed to the hospital for a partial hysterectomy related to a case of endometriosis
. After realizing she would never be able to have children, Parton fell into a deep
depression. She later told the Globe:
"Every day I thought, 'I wish I had the nerve to kill myself.'"
Looking back in hindsight, Parton mused to Entertainment Tonight that her struggles with
motherhood may well have been a part of God's plan.
"But I really honestly believe that some things like that are really meant to be, because
now everybody's kids are mine."
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