Dolly Parton Makes First Public Appearance Since Canceling Las Vegas Residency Over Health
Dolly Parton was planning to keep workin’ 9 to 5 right up until the end.
Just days before the country music legend died at age 80, she had detailed the “hard times” with her health following several cancelled appearances and shows.
“I’m dealing with some health issues,” Parton—whose husband Carl Thomas Dean died in March 2025—told People in an interview published Aug. 21. “That I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl.”
While Parton was not dismissing her health concerns, she noted she hadn’t always attracted this level of attention.
“It’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health,” Parton continued. “But I think because we live in a 24/7 world with social media, everything gets magnificent in ways it wasn’t years ago.”
And though she was taking time off from public appearances, the singer had every intention of returning to the stage. As she put it, “Seriously, though, even though I’m still healin’, I’m still workin.’”
Indeed, Parton was busy planning the opening of her SongTeller Hotel in Nashville, as well as the launch of Cup of Ambition Coffee, her own coffee line inspired by the “9 to 5” lyric.
Months earlier, Parton spoke out about her health after her sister Freida Parton asked for prayers on her behalf. “I want you to know that I’m OK,” she said in an October Instagram video. “I don’t think God is through with me, and I ain’t done working. So, I love you for caring and keep praying for me.”
But just days after her final interview, Parton’s family announced her passing on Aug. 25.
“Dolly has lived in the light, and is in the arms of Jesus,” her nephew Bryan Seaver said in a video statement shared to her Instagram account. “Surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens.”
Jon Morgan/CBS via Getty Images
He emphasized that his aunt “opened doors” for her entire family, as well as “for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians, and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent.”
And he assured that her legacy will live on.
As he put it, “By her example, we believed that anything was possible.”
To celebrate Parton’s larger than life presence, read on…
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
1955
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1960
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
1965
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Late 1960s
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1974
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1975
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1977
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1977
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1980
9 to 5
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1982
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
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1989
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1989
Steel Magnolias
Paul DrinkwaterNBC/NBCU Photo Bank
1990
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1991
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1993
Margaret Norton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
1994
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1995
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1999
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1999
Paul Drinkwater/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
2003
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2008
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2012
Douglas Gorenstein/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
2014
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2014
Paul Drinkwater/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
2015
Quantrell Colbert/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
2015
Virginia Sherwood/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
2016
Andrew Lipovsky/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
2018
Katherine Bomboy/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
2019
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2019
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