The untold truth of Dolly Parton

For all of Parton’s success, she doesn’t shy away from discussing her humble roots. As one of 12 kids who grew up in rural Tennessee in a one-room shack, the singer is no stranger to hard knocks. Her family was what you might call “dirt poor,” but Parton didn’t mind. 

“The kids peed on me every night. We slept three and four in the bed. I would wash every night. And as soon as I go to bed, the kids would wet on me and I’d have to get up in the morning and do the same thing,” she said in a rare 1978 Playboy interview unearthed by the animated PBS series Blank on Blank (via Wide Open Country). 

When asked whether or not she would get up and change the sheets in the middle of the night, Parton responded with her trademark candor, “No, that was the only warm thing we knew in the winter time. That was almost a pleasure to get peed on because it was so cold. Lord. It was as cold in the room as it was outside. We’d bundle up to go to bed.”

Parton’s inspiring rise to success is the focus of a 2017 book titled Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton. While the tome wasn’t technically penned by Parton, the content does come straight from her mouth — the book is a collection of interviews with the singer spanning back over five decades. Perhaps the most shocking revelation revisited was the story Parton shared about a dog named Popeye who was her canine companion in the early ’80s.

In one of the book’s many interviews, readers learn that Parton struggled with severe depression after starring and having an “affair of the heart” with Burt Reynolds in 1982’s The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. It was during these dark days that Parton actually contemplated suicide, even going so far as to pick up her handgun in preparation. 

Fortunately, her dog Popeye had other plans. As he ran up the stairs towards her, Parton had a revelation. “I put the gun down. Then I prayed. I kinda believe Popeye was a spiritual messenger from God,” she said (via People).

You know how the saying goes: one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. And, in Parton’s case, one town’s tramp is another woman’s style icon. Discussing her cameo in her TV movie Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, Parton explained that playing the part of the “Painted Lady” came naturally to her. 

“This lady was the town tramp and I thought she was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen when we were little kids,” Parton told The New York Times, adding, “She’s the lady that I actually patterned myself after because she left an impression.” It wasn’t until much later, Parton admits, that she learned the woman was a local prostitute.

When you think about a living legend like Parton, it’s easy to imagine her life is non-stop glitz and glamour. However, Parton’s truth is that she came from simple beginnings, and she likes to enjoy a more simple way of life from time to time. 

“My husband and I have a camper,” she told Southern Living. “We travel around all the time. Every weekend. Usually a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.” Parton revealed that she and her husband, Carl Dean, particularly like to explore tiny towns that are often overlooked by others. 

“All the little places that are just out of the way and have a little history,” she described them. “Or are just exceptionally beautiful.” Of course, Parton’s camper is not to be confused with her other favorite mode of transportation: her now-retired tour bus. Affectionately dubbed the Gypsy Wagon, the RV is permanently parked at Parton’s Tennessee amusement park, Dollywood. 

With news of another celebrity split breaking practically every day, it’s always refreshing to hear about a famous couple who appears to have found their happily ever after. Enter Parton, who married her husband Carl Dean when she was just 20 and he was 23. Today, they are still going strong. 

“Not everyone is lucky enough to be with someone for 50 years, but I have been. He has been the love of my life and the life of my love,” she told People. According to Parton, the couple works largely because they are so different. “They say that opposites attract, and it’s true,” she said in another interview with People. “We’re completely opposite, but that’s what makes it fun. I never know what he’s gonna say or do. He’s always surprising me.” Parton and Dean, who’ve never had children, wed in 1966.

On staff with the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert attended a press screening in the 1980 for the film Nine to Five starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Parton. In 2008, Ebert updated his original review to add a note about Parton that was perhaps unlike any addendum he’d ever made. 

“Here’s what I remember,” he wrote on his website. “I had a one-on-one interview with Parton in a hotel suite. As we spoke, I found myself enveloped by her presence. This had nothing to do with sex appeal. Far from it. It was as if I were being mesmerized by a benevolent power. I left the room in a cloud of good feeling.” Ebert then admits that the following day, he told his longtime critiquing partner Siskel of Parton, “I almost felt like she had healing powers.” Talk about a glowing review!

Parton’s song “I Will Always Love You” became a household hit in 1982 with the release of The Bodyguard and Whitney Houston’s performance of the song in it. Interestingly, though, Parton didn’t even realize the song made it into the movie. Apparently, Kevin Costner and his secretary were big fans of Parton’s version, so she sent a copy out to L.A. When she didn’t hear back, she assumed they weren’t using it, until she heard it streaming out of her speakers.

“I was on my way home and I turned the radio on, and all of a sudden I heard that acapella part and I was like ‘Wooo! What’s that?’ By the time it dawned on me what I was hearing when she went into that chorus I had to stop the car because I almost wrecked. I thought my heart was going to just bust right out of my body. It was the most powerful feeling that I’ve ever had ’cause it was such a shock and it was so great and she sang it so good that I was just overwhelmed,” Parton told Axs.