Dolly Parton has taken to social media to clarify she “ain’t dead yet!”
In a post shared on her Instagram and YouTube channel, the country music star rejected rumors of ill health that swirled after the postponement of her Las Vegas residency and a cryptic post from her sister asking for “prayers”.
“I know [that] lately everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am,” Parton said in a video filmed on Wednesday on set for a Grand Ole Opry commercial. “Do I look sick to you? I’m working hard here.”
Parton added: “Anyway, I wanted to put everybody’s mind at ease, those of you that seem to be real concerned, which I appreciate, and I appreciate your prayers because I’m a person of faith.”
Parton did not elaborate or specify on the “health challenges” that also forced her to withdraw from November’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Governors Awards, where she was set to receive the Jean Hersholt humanitarian award. But she made clear that she was undergoing medical treatments near her home in Nashville.
“As I mentioned back when my husband Carl was very sick, that was for a long time, and then when he passed, I didn’t take care of myself, so I let a lot of things go that I should have been taken care of,” she said, referring to her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Thomas Dean, who died aged 82 in March. “So anyway, when I got round to it, the doctor said, ‘We need to take care of this. We need to take care of that.’ Nothing major, but I did have to cancel some things so I could be closer to home, closer to Vanderbilt, you know, where I’m kind of having a few treatments here and there.”
Rumors that Parton was seriously ill intensified on Tuesday when her sister Freida wrote in a Facebook post that she had been “up all night praying” for the 79-year-old superstar.
“Many of you know she hasn’t been feeling her best lately,” she wrote. “I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I have been lead [sic] to ask all of the world that loves her to be prayer warriors and pray with me.”
Freida later clarified that Parton was just “a little under the weather” and not seriously ill. “I didn’t mean to scare anyone or make it sound so serious when asking for prayers for Dolly,” she said. “She’s been a little under the weather, and I simply asked for prayers because I believe so strongly in the power of prayer … Thank you all for lifting her up.”
Parton’s manager, Olly Rowland, confirmed that Parton had been treated for kidney stones, and added: “It looks like her sister posted, and it got quite a bit blown out of proportion.”
Parton was supposed to begin a six-concert run at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on 4 December – her first extended Vegas run in 32 years – but uncharacteristically withdrew, citing “health challenges” that required visits to the doctor.
In a post to her Instagram at the time, she lightheartedly added: “As I joked with them, it must be time for my 100,000-mile checkup, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon!”
Parton has regularly stayed in the public eye in recent years. Her 2023 album Rockstar reached the US and UK top five, on the strength of collaborations with the likes of Elton John, Debbie Harry, Sting and, on a cover of Let It Be, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. On her 2024 album Smoky Mountain DNA: Family, Faith and Fables, she collaborated with members of her family.
In June, Parton collaborated with the rock band Mötley Crüe on a new version of their song Home Sweet Home. And a musical based on her life, Dolly: A True Original Musical, premiered in Nashville in July, aiming for a Broadway run.
In her Instagram post on Wednesday, Parton – who told the Guardian last year that she “can’t retire” – reassured that she was “not ready to die yet”.
“I don’t think God is through with me,” she added, “and I ain’t done working.”
