Dolly Parton, the beloved country music superstar known as much for her philanthropy and theme park business as she was for her chart-topping hit songs, has died at 80.
Parton’s death on Tuesday was announced by her publicist. No cause of death was provided.
“As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures,” Parton wrote on Instagram in September 2025, though she never specified the nature of her health issues. Nearly six months later, at the seasonal opening of her Dollywood theme park, she said that she was still dealing with “a few little health issues” from which she was taking time to recover.
Parton also shared that she was still navigating her grief over the March 2025 death of her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, saying that she had been taking time since to rebuild herself “spiritually, emotionally and physically.”
Just ten days before her passing, Parton canceled a scheduled appearance to celebrate the opening of a new attraction at her Dollywood theme park in Tennessee, saying her doctor had told her not to travel due to health issues.
“Now I’ve told you before, all my fans, that I have had a few little health issues. And sometimes I get a little dizzy, and I get dehydrated,” Parton said in a video message played at the park.
President Donald Trump called Parton “one of the greatest Country singers, and far beyond, EVER” in a social media post reacting to her passing. “There has never been anyone like her, and never will. In her honor, I am lowering the American flag throughout the United States for a one week period beginning tonight at 6:00PM.”
In a music career that began when she was still a child, born into poverty in the tiny mountain community of Pittman Center, Tennessee, Parton went on to become one of the world’s most successful and admired entertainers, regarded as a country music living legend. Her trademark style – big blonde hair, flamboyant clothes and makeup – was cultivated early in her career, while she was still in her teens.
“I take my negatives and try to make them into positives, and I always feel better being more flamboyant,” Parton wrote in her 2023 book “Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones.” “Maybe I looked cheap, but I knew I wasn’t cheap.”
Parton’s style helped her get noticed but her musical gifts made her unforgettable. She wrote and recorded many of country and pop’s most enduring songs, including the hits “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” – added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2011 – “Here You Come Again,” “Love Is Like a Butterfly,” “9 to 5” and more. ABC News