“I’m grateful for it”: Dolly Parton shared one “timeless” thing she wanted people to remember before she died

There are so many things we’ll miss about Dolly Parton, the iconic country singer who passed away yesterday (Tuesday 25 August). Her unmistakable voice, her larger-than-life personality, the rhinestone-covered outfits - but, perhaps most of all, it's the pearls of wisdom she shared throughout her life. From her thoughts on love to her reflections on getting older, Dolly gifted us with countless nuggets of advice, but there’s one timeless piece that she shared in her final interview with Good Housekeeping that she wanted everyone to remember.

In December 2024, Dolly and her sister, Rachel Parton George, appeared on the Christmas Cover of Good Housekeeping, sharing their holiday traditions and a fascinating insight into their lives and sibling relationship. And when asked what advice Dolly would share when it comes to feeling confident, she said: “Just be yourself and enjoy it. So many people try so hard to be something else.”

“No matter how far I’ve stretched it, I’m grateful for being born in my own skin - and for being who I am.”

For those who don't know the story, Dolly grew up in a “poor mountain place” in Locust Ridge, Tennessee with Rachel and their 10 siblings. Raised by parents Avie Lee Caroline Owens (a homemaker who loved to sing) and Robert Lee Parton Sr (a sharecropper), Dolly was the fourth of the 12 children and recalled her family being “dirt poor”, so much so that that when Dolly was born, her father paid the local doctor a bag of grain for delivering her.

He’d sell butter and eggs from the farm for cash if he needed to go into town. They didn’t have hot water, their own beds (three or four kids would share) or new clothes – but they had each other. Of course, everything would soon change for Dolly.

After finishing high school in 1964, Dolly moved to Nashville, found work as a songwriter, landed a record deal and released her first album, Hello, I’m Dolly – all within three years. It was the catalyst for a career that saw her write some of the greatest songs of all time, from Jolene to I Will Always Love You, sell more than 100m albums worldwide, and be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. And yet, the more success Dolly had, the more of it she shared.

In Dolly and Rachel’s cookbook, Good Lookin’ Cookin’: A Year Of Meals, there’s a poignant memory of the Christmas when "Mama, Daddy and the youngest kids came home to discover new beds in all the children’s rooms, a new colour TV for Daddy, and a new dining table and living room furniture for Mama, all thanks to Dolly’s success and kindness.” Only the Christmas before, Dolly and her husband, Carl Dean – who she’d met at the Wishy Washy Laundromat on her first day in Nashville – couldn’t afford more than a tiny silver tree and a candle placed in the living room window.

“That’s typical of Dolly,” explained Rachel in the GH interview. “It was the most exciting day ever for me. We’d all gone to town and we came home to find the house completely changed. I’ll never forget it.”

For Dolly, it was only natural to share the fruits of her success. "It was always my dream as a child to be a singer, and I always thought, 'If I make it big, I’m gonna make sure my brothers and sisters, and especially Mama and Daddy, have what they need,'" she said. “But all my family are generous people; we’re very kind-hearted.

“If anybody’s got a dime, the rest of us have got a nickel. That’s just how we do it in my family.” And that summed up Dolly: a woman who was generous to her core, utterly iconic, and somehow always able to make everyone around her feel like they had a little more than they came with.