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Inside Dolly Parton’s extraordinary life journey
Fox News senior national correspondent William La Jeunesse goes through the legacy of country music legend Dolly Parton on ‘The Story.’
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Country music icon Dolly Parton died peacefully in Nashville on Tuesday at 80 years old. Parton’s team shared a statement with Fox News Digital on Tuesday night and confirmed that she died after a “brief battle with cancer.”
Parton’s death sparked mourning across the world. Parton’s catalog included enduring hits such as “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “Here You Come Again,” “9 to 5” and “I Will Always Love You.” The latter song became a global phenomenon again when Whitney Houston recorded it for 1992’s “The Bodyguard.”
Throughout the span of her career, which ignited as a performer on “The Porter Wagoner Show,” Parton always shared what mattered most to her – her Tennessee upbringing, her faith, her beloved husband, Carl Dean, and family.
Dolly Parton passed away peacefully on Tuesday.(Shirlaine Forrest/WireImage)
Below is a look at Parton’s life, in her own words, over the years.
Smoky Mountains upbringing
Born in 1946 in rural Sevier County, Tennessee, Parton grew up in a large, poor family in the Smoky Mountains. She began singing in church as a child and started writing songs at a young age.
In 2015, Parton toldEntertainment Tonight that her upbringing shaped who she became in her adult years. “I think my childhood made me everything I am today. I would trade nothing for being brought up in the Great Smoky Mountains. I’ve never been ashamed of my people no matter how poor or dirty we might have been,” she said at the time.
Parton added, “I’ve always loved being from where I am, and having the folks that I’ve had.”
During an interview with Rolling Stone in January, Parton shed a little more light on her poor childhood and said that her mother would make her clothes out of “feed sacks or scraps.”
Country singer Dolly Parton in 1970.(Michael Ochs Archives/
“We didn’t have anything. Mama used to sew all of our quilts and curtains for the windows, remake our clothes, and make clothes out of feed sacks or scraps,” she said.
Parton was one of 12 children. Her parents were Robert Lee Parton Sr., known as Lee, a sharecropper and construction worker, and Avie Lee Caroline Parton, who raised their family.
Dolly’s faith
Parton was very outspoken throughout her life about her Christian faith. During an interview with Fox News Digital in 2023, Parton said that her faith impacted everything she did.
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“My faith impacts everything I do because I do believe that, through God, all things are possible,” she said at the time. “I always ask God to bless everything that I do and the people that I work with and to bring all the right things and right people into my life and to take the wrong ones out.”
She added, “My spirituality has been a guiding light in my life and my strength, really, in my creative energy.”
On the “WorkLife with Adam Grant” Ted Talk series in 2022, Parton shared that her religious beliefs were instilled in her at a young age.
“My grandpa was preacher. My mom was very religious, very spiritual. So I learned all the good lessons about loving your neighbor as yourself and judge not lest you be judged. Through God, all things are possible,” she said.
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Fox News looked back on Parton’s history speaking about God in public. “I pray a lot and God’s been really good to me,” she said in March. In 2018, Parton said that music is “everything to me.”
“It’s my gift, it’s my joy, it’s my job,” she continued.
Marriage to Carl Dean
Parton met Carl Dean outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat in Nashville on her first day in the city in 1964, when she was 18. They married two years later, on May 30, 1966, and remained together for nearly six decades until Dean’s death in 2025.
Dolly Parton and Carl Dean were married for nearly 60 years.(Dolly Parton Instagram)
After Dean died at the age of 82, the “Jolene” singer explained why she couldn’t get herself to do what she loved: write songs.
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“I can’t afford the luxury of, you know, getting that emotional right now,” she said during an appearance on Khloé Kardashian’s podcast, “Khloé in Wonder Land.” “There are times like that, things like that, that will stall you a little bit. But I’ll write something else though, if it comes.”
“I’m just putting that all on hold,” Parton said.
Also, shortly after Dean’s death, Parton told People that she would always keep him close to her heart.
“Ours is a great old love story. Most people don’t stay that close that long. That’s a loss. Nobody can ever know that unless you’ve experienced it yourself. He will always be in my heart and in my memories,” she said.
Speaking to Fox News Digital in 2023, Parton said that part of the reason she believes their marriage lasted as long as it did was because she kept it private.
“The fact that he’s not in show business at all, so we’re not in competition on that. We don’t have to deal with it. He’s kind of a homebody. He loves working on the farm. He loves workin’ on his tractors and his trucks and all that. He was in asphalt paving for years, and then he went into kinda doin’ some real estate. But he don’t wanna be in the spotlight, but he’s very proud of and for me,” she said at the time.
“When I first won an award, when we first married in ’66… he just started taking clothes off before we even got out of the building. Before we got to the car, he had that bowtie off from that tuxedo. Had that shirt, jacket off, and he said, ‘I want you to be successful. Do whatever you want to do, but leave me out of this. I ain’t doing any more of these things, so don’t ask me.’ So I never did it,” Parton said.
Shortly after Dead died, Parton told The Associated Press that she “truly believe[s] that I’m going to see him again someday.”
Dolly’s legacy
Parton built a seven-decade career as a singer, songwriter, actress, author, businesswoman and philanthropist, winning 11 Grammy Awards and becoming one of country music’s most enduring stars.
Beyond music, she created Dollywood, founded the Imagination Library and brought her larger-than-life personality to films including “9 to 5” and “Steel Magnolias.”
Dolly Parton in a publicity picture for the movie “Rhinestone” in 1984
In 2025, Parton spoke to People about how she was able to not only maintain a country music career, but crossover to Hollywood successfully and find the time for her charitable efforts.
“I don’t try to tell other people how to do it, how to be, but I know who I am. I’m a star to everybody but me. I’m just a working girl. I always just say that I’m a workhorse that looks like a show horse,” she said at the time.
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“I’m at that point in my life where I just want to be able to do good things that can be carried on. I’m proud of my legacy so far, and I hope to just continue to do things that might be of use to other people,” Parton added.
Parton died on August 25 at the age of 80.(Jason Kempin/
In 2022, Parton said part of the reason she found the time to do the things she loved was because she didn’t sleep much.
“I don’t need a whole lot of sleep,” the singer insisted to Insider. “I go to bed pretty early, but even if I’ve been up late – it’s just kind of like a little clock inside of me that says, ‘It’s 3 o’clock!’”
“I do some of my best work there, but I get enough sleep. I don’t require as much sleep as a lot of other people do. That’s kind of a Parton family trait,” she continued.
Parton’s stance on aging
After Parton turned 77 in 2023, she spoke to Insider about how she viewed getting older.
The singer said she’s come to terms with the idea that “wisdom comes with age, and you can’t stop the aging process, nor the numbers.”
Dolly Parton passed away on Tuesday, August 25 at 80
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“Honestly — and I mean this from the bottom of my heart — when I see young people today and I see what they’re going to have to go through, especially in this day and time, I would honestly rather be this age than that age,” Parton explained.
The legendary singer acknowledged she’s no different from “everyone (who) would like to stay 35 forever,” but she doesn’t spend her life thinking about her age and doesn’t let it get in the way of her doing what she wants.
Parton performed at the halftime show at the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Day game in 2023, dressed as a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader.(Ron Jenkins/
“The way I live, the way I work, the way I feel, I’m going to make every moment count,” Parton said. “I may live to be 100 or I may die tomorrow, but whenever that is, I will know I died trying, and I will know I’ve done everything I could to make the most of everything.”
“As long as I stay healthy, the numbers shouldn’t matter. I don’t feel my age, I don’t work my age, I don’t think my age and, hopefully, I don’t look my age,” she noted.
“I may live to be 100 or I may die tomorrow, but whenever that is, I will know I died trying, and I will know I’ve done everything I could to make the most of everything.”
— Dolly Parton
Just before her 80th birthday this year, Parton told People that she felt like she was “just getting started.”
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“If you allow yourself to get old, you will. People say, ‘How come you don’t seem to get old?’ I say, ‘I ain’t got time to get old,’” she said. “I ain’t got time to dwell on that. That’s not what I’m thinking about,” she told the outlet.
What Dolly believed came after death
In 2019, Parton shared rare comments on what she believed would happen after she died during an episode of the “Dolly Parton’s America” podcast.
Dolly Parton believed in life after death
“As far as what happens after we go on, like I say, I’m no saint so I’m hoping just as a Christian faith person, that we go on to a greater thing. I believe that we’re all part of that great divine plan, and I’m hoping to get on up there, and do some more writing, and singing, and playing with those golden harps, and write some more songs, and have my own mansion, and walk them golden streets of glory, and keep doing it forever and ever and ever.
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“So I’m going to get in the angel band, for sure. I want to play in the angel band and I want to maybe play the harp up there. I don’t know,” she said.
Dolly Parton appeared on the Phil Donahue Show in 1977
On the podcast, Parton said that she “kind of” believed in reincarnation and was “open to things.”
“You just hope and you have faith. That’s what faith is. But I believe that it’s going to be better. I think it’s not the end of me. I don’t think it’s the end of any of us. I think we’re recycled and if nothing else, we just go back into that great flow of divine energy, and hopefully we can spread ourselves around in other wonderful ways. That’s what I hope,” Parton said.
