Dolly Parton opened up about her health just four days before her death at age 80.
The beloved country music icon died on Aug. 25, with her nephew Brian Seaver announcing her death in an Instagram video, as per her request some years prior.
On Aug. 21, the “Jolene” singer shared a statement with PEOPLE, revealing updates on her various business ventures and philanthropy projects amid her illness, which she began to address after the March 2025 death of her husband Carl Dean.
“As I’ve shared in video messages throughout the past year, I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” she said at the time. “You know, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to manage something like this. Back in the early ’80s, I was down for several months with female issues, and I was struggling with my weight at the time too, so it’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health.”
Parton added: “But I think because we live in a 24/7 world with social media, everything gets magnified in ways it wasn’t years ago. I used to joke that I was the Queen of the Tabloids, but now I guess I can say I’m the Queen of Social Media AI! Seriously, though, even though I’m still healin’, I’m still workin’! You know me — as I’ve often said — I’ve dreamed myself into a corner and I still have so many things I want to achieve, so I’m gonna keep on working as long as I can to see everything come to life.”
At the time, Parton also spoke about the future of her performing career after having recently canceled a Las Vegas residency amid her recovery.
“I hate to cancel anything I’m committed to, but I just couldn’t do the shows at the level I would want them to be, and in the way that I know my fans would expect them to be. I definitely plan to do special performances in the future, but I won’t tour anymore like I used to,” Parton told PEOPLE.
She added: “But, you know, we’ve been working with some of those companies who make those avatar performances, and we are in early stages of development on that. It is just crazy what technology can do these days. So, I’m hopin’ to launch a big show like that right here in Nashville soon. Isn’t that just wild? I’ll be like George Jones — they used to call him ‘No Show Jones’ — I won’t have to show up in person but I still get paid! Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.”
Public concern over Parton’s wellbeing first began in September 2025, when she announced the postponement of her Las Vegas residency due to “health challenges”; that news came just weeks after she missed an event at her Dollywood theme park because she was recovering from a kidney stone infection.
Parton officially canceled the Las Vegas residency in May, sharing another update on her recovery with fans.
“I have some good news and a little bad news. But the good news is, I’m responding really well to meds and treatments, and I’m improving every day. Now, the bad news is that it’s gonna take me a little while before I’m up to stage performance level because some of the meds and treatments make me a little bit swimmy-headed, as my grandma used to say,” she said in an Instagram video at the time.
In the same video, Parton added, “You know, I’ve told you before that I’ve always had problems with my kidney stones. Lord, they dig more stones out of me a year than the rock quarry in Rockwood, Tennessee. But seriously, my immune system and my digestive system got all out of whack over the past couple, three years, and they’re working real hard on rebuilding and strengthening those. And hopefully, I’ll be up to snuff again soon.”
Credit: People
