21 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton is the queen of the world, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t think anyone on Earth dislikes Dolly. How could you? She is everything good, wonderful, witty and charming. Oh, and really interesting too!
Did you know …
- Dolly’s been married to the same man (Carl Dean) since 1966. He’s rarely ever seen in public, but Dolly is very forthright about staying faithful to him regardless of her flirtatious persona.
- The first cloned animal, a sheep, was named after Dolly.
- The rumor is that Dolly’s skin is completely covered with tattoos. She wears long sleeves and long pants/skirts constantly, so we’ll never know for sure.
- She’s never ridden any of the rides at her famous Dollywood amusement park.
- Dolly runs the Imagination Library, which mails one book to an enrolled child every month from birth to kindergarten.
- Twenty six of Dolly’s songs hit number one on the country charts, which is a record for a female country artist.
- You might know of her albums recorded with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, but Dolly also recorded albums with Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn.
- Dolly recorded a cover of Cat Stevens’ “Peace Train,” which was later turned into a dance remix hit.
- Very few people have seen Dolly without one of her trademark wigs. She started wearing them because her fine hair wouldn’t cooperate with the styles she tried. She never leaves the house without her “look” on … “unless my husband was dying of a heart attack, and even then I’d think about it.” She’s never been shy about discussing her plastic surgery. “If I see something saggin’, baggin’ or draggin’, I’m gonna have it nipped, tucked or sucked.”
- Dolly has never had children. “God didn’t let me have children so everybody’s children could be mine,” she said.
- Dolly is Miley Cyrus’s godmother.
- She has been writing songs since she was small; Dolly estimates she’s written over 5,000.
- Dolly got her big break in country music when she became a regular on the “Porter Wagoner Show.” Soon, Dolly became more famous than the incredibly popular singer Wagoner.
- Dolly wrote “I Will Always Love You” as a goodbye to Porter.
- She hosted her own variety show “Dolly!” for a season in the ‘70s and again in the late ‘80s.
- She’s been in plenty of movies and on TV, but did you know Dolly did voiceover work as herself for an episode of “Alvin and the Chipmunks?”
- More than ten rap songs reference Dolly’s famous breasts, including “Make me Proud” by Drake and “Lollipop Remix” by Lil Wayne/Kanye West.
- Dolly has never taken it all off for “Playboy,” but she did appear on the cover in 1978 in a bunny costume.
- Dolly improvised the typewriter noise in the intro of “9 to 5” by clacking her long acrylic nails.
- Dolly wears Gendarme perfume.
- Dolly based her signature look on the “town tramp” she’d seen growing up. She thought the woman with the bleach blonde hair, red lips, high heels and tight dresses was the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen.