Dolly Parton is one of the most beloved country music stars of all time, but she’s far more than just a talented musician and songwriter. She’s also a wildly successful businesswoman, a compassionate humanitarian, and a devoted wife to her husband Carl Dean, whom she’s been happily married to since 1966. While the two have been an item for well over a half-century now, some of Dolly’s fans aren’t thoroughly convinced that Dean exists.
Dolly Parton discussed this bizarre theory in hopes of finally putting it to rest. Let’s see what she had to say.
20 crazy facts about Dolly Parton
She has 11 siblings
Parton is the fourth of 12 children born to Avie Lee Caroline, a preacher’s daughter, and Robert Lee Parton Sr., a farmer and construction worker. Many of her brothers and sisters are also in show business, including younger sister Stella, who is best known for her 1975 hit single “I Want to Hold You in My Dreams Tonight.”
She grew up in a one-bedroom cabin
Despite her large family, Parton and her 11 siblings all lived together in a tiny one-bedroom cabin along the banks of Little Pigeon River in Pittman Center, Tennessee. The home didn’t have running water or electricity. Winters got so cold that they had to go to bed fully dressed, and she once said that the only warmth they would get was when one of the kids wet the bed.
Her family was “dirt poor”
Parton often describes her upbringing in East Tennessee as being “dirt poor.” Her parents were so poor, in fact, that they had to pay the doctor who delivered her with cornmeal. Rather than being ashamed of it, she says that she drew inspiration from her humble origins in what she calls her “mountain roots music,” telling CNN in 2002: “I still draw from that because I stayed close to my family and my home.”
She’s devoted her life to helping children read
The country singer has made it her life’s mission to encourage children to read since her father, like many working men in rural America at the time, never had the chance to learn. She started the Imagination Library in 1995, which gives free books each month to children registered to the program. In 2018 the organization hit a major milestone by delivering its 100 millionth book.
She’s Miley Cyrus’s godmother
Dollywood pays the college tuition of all its employees
Aside from her music, Dolly is perhaps best known for her charitable contributions. Recently, her theme park Dollywood, which she jointly owns with Herschend Family Entertainment, announced that it would be paying the full tuition for all of its employees pursuing college, including books and associated fees. The offer stands for any of the 11,000 full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees who work at one of her 25 amusement parks.
“I Will Always Love You” isn’t about a lover
Contrary to popular belief, Parton’s hit song isn’t in fact about the end of a relationship with a romantic partner, but with a business partner. She wrote the song in 1973 after splitting from her mentor and duet partner, Porter Wagoner. The two had worked together for seven years before Parton decided it was time to move on. She told CMT in 2011 about her decision to write the song: “There was a lot of grief and heartache there, and he just wasn’t listening to my reasoning for my going… I thought, ‘Well, why don’t you do what you do best? Why don’t you just write this song?’”
She honoured Whitney Houston by using her royalties to support a Black neighbourhood in Nashville
Speaking of “I Will Always Love You,” Parton used the royalties from the hit song, which Whitney Houston propelled to new heights in 1992 with her cover, to support an entire Black neighbourhood in Nashville, as a way of honouring the late singer. According to Forbes, Houston’s version made Parton US$10 million in royalties after the success of The Bodyguard.
She turned down Elvis for a cover
Like any good country girl, Parton grew up idolizing Elvis Presley. So when The King’s manager contacted her about covering “I Will Always Love You,” she was naturally elated, until she found out that she would have to give up 50% of the publishing royalties. “I can’t do that. Something in my heart says, ‘Don’t do that,’” she told CMT.
No, she didn’t insure her breasts
While talking to Todayhosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager in January 2022, the “9 to 5” songstress addressed the long-running rumour that her breasts are insured, saying that it was simply “not true.” Parton explained that it was a joke based on the fact that Betty Grable was famous for her legs, saying, “And at that time I said, ‘Well maybe I should get my boobs insured since I’m famous for them,’ but it was just a joke. I didn’t do that.”
She would stop meetings to let people stare at her breasts
While some rumours about her ample bosom might not be true, this one sure is. According to Parton herself, she used to stop business meetings for 60 seconds to give the men in the room time to stare at her breasts so that they could get it out of their system and move on with the business at hand: “I would say in a business meeting: ‘I’ll give you a minute to look at these but then I want you to listen to what I have to say because I’m here to make money for all of us.’”
“Jolene” was inspired by a bank teller
She holds three world records
Parton holds the record for most decades on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart by a female artist (seven), as well as the most No. 1 hits on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart by a female artist (25). Most impressively, she has the most total hits on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart by any artist, with a staggering 109! Her latest to chart was her duet with Reba McEntire, “Does He Love You,” which McEntire originally performed with Linda Davis.
She once lost a Dolly Parton lookalike contest
In fact, not only did she lose, but as she explains it, she didn’t even come close. She told ABC in 2012 that, years ago on Halloween, she decided to enter a drag queen Dolly Parton lookalike contest in Santa Monica without telling anyone that she was, in fact, the real Dolly. She said that she over-exaggerated her trademark look by making her beauty mark, eyes, and hair even “bigger,” and when she walked on stage she got the least applause from the audience.
She got kicked out of a hotel her first time in NYC
She has a massive wig collection
Parton once said that one of the things she never leaves the house without is her hair. And she meant that literally. The singer, known for her long blond locks, has so many wigs that she once joked to Vogue she has one for every single day of the year. In fact, there’s even an entire room devoted to wigs on her tour bus.
She plays eight instruments
“I play some of everything,” she told Vogue. “I ain’t that good at none of it, but I try to sell it. I really try to lay into it.” In addition to the guitar, she plays the dulcimer, banjo, piano, recorder, and saxophone, all of which she learned without any formal training. “Like I said, I ain’t all that good at it, but I can play enough to make a show!”
She’s copyrighted over 3,000 songs
Parton is one of the most prolific songwriters of our time. She told CNN in 2002 that she’s been writing virtually non-stop since she was seven years old, estimating that she’s penned roughly 3,000 songs in that time. She doesn’t just write for herself, either. She’s contributed to the songbook of such artists as Waylon Jennings, Kenny Rogers, Bill Phillips, Skeeter Davis, and Merle Haggard.
Her husband isn’t a fan of her music
Despite the fact that they’ve been married for 55 years, Dolly Parton’s husband Carl Dean isn’t the biggest fan of her music. Instead, she told Good Morning Britain in 2019 that he’s more a fan of hard rock and bluegrass music, whereas her music “is somewhere in between.” “He doesn’t dislike it, but he doesn’t go out of his way to play my records, let’s put it that way.”
She’s a very early riser
