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Dolly Parton has died aged 80, her family announces
Country music legend Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80, her family has announced.
In a video posted to Parton’s X account 15 minutes ago, her nephew Bryan Seaver announced the death of his aunt, for whom he acted as head of security.
This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality.
As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father, Larry, held before me. I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it until now. It is an honor, an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness.
But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly. Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens.
I first went on the road with Dolly as a kid, getting a taste of the road life in the early 1980s. Dolly opened doors not just for me, but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible. Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians, and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent. By her example, we believed that anything was possible. She never saw a door she couldn’t open, and the doors she opened made and changed history.
My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you. She has always been on your television, your record player, your CD, and on your phone playlist becoming an extended part of your family, whether you liked it or not. Our family and the team she has entrusted with her legacy will work diligently to ensure her spirit will live with us for ever.
Dolly was a farmer, just like her daddy. He farmed the soil; she farmed songs and happiness. Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest.
Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly, Aunt Granny. Gigi. May God bless Dolly Parton and may God bless you all. She will always love you.
Key events
Donny Osmond shared this tribute along with a clip of Dolly Parton’s appearance on the Donny & Marie talkshow on 2 March 1999.
I’m deeply saddened by the passing of Dolly Parton. She has a heart of gold and a spirit that touched so many lives. She was a true woman of God, an incredible entertainer, and of course, one of the pillars of country music. Marie and I had the pleasure of having Dolly on our show, and what a pleasure it was. She had the most amazing way of making everyone in that studio feel like they were her best friend. I think it was that sweet Southern hospitality in her. Rest in peace, Dolly. What a beautiful life you lived, and what a gift you were to the world. Your name will be forever remembered by all. ‘We will always love you!’
Actor Russell Crowe said: “There’s only ever going to be one Dolly Parton. What a soul she carried.”
The Library of Congress shared on X:
The Library is devastated to learn of the passing of @DollyParton, a music legend and titan of children’s literacy. Her Imagination Library program has earned multiple Library Literacy Awards and, in 2018, she visited us to donate its 100 millionth book to our collection and host a story time.
Jane Fonda, who starred with Parton in 9 to 5, shared this tribute on Instagram:
I am devastated. I just learned that Dolly has moved on. I know that millions are mourning and I want to say this – more than anyone I have ever known, Dolly will always be with us because she was so present, so powerful, so generous and playful that she is woven into all our lives and hearts forever. We have our memories of her, her songs, Dollywood, ‘9to5’, the millions of books she got into the hands of children, all the iconic images that bring her to us.
And they are all blessings. Let’s be grateful for all that she has left us to ease our sadness now. I never knew anyone like her. She was simultaneously a naughty, playful southern gal from the hollows of
Tennessee and a deep, soulful thinker who could see through people right down to their true selves. She was many things … lyricist, songstress, player of many instruments, writer, prankster, visionary, loyal friend, who’d never go to bed before she and her friends had laughed so hard they’d have to cross their legs.
She had a survivor’s instinct and seemed to always know just what to do, just what to say, to make things right … and then she’d stick her butt out the car window and moon Kenny Roger’s home. She was the voluptuous embodiment of empathy. That’s something of hers she’d want us all to take with us.
To her gay and trans fans, I want you to know that she loved you. You know that without me telling you. She loved all her fans and they are legion. And you know she doesn’t want y’all to mourn now. Dress up and celebrate her spirit. But first, watch the final episode of Grace and Frankie where she’s an Angel, the head honcho working class angel in Heaven.
RIP, beautiful woman. We love you.
Flowers have been laid on Dolly Parton’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California.
For the US public, the feeling that Dolly Parton expressed in her country music chart-topping 1974 classic I Will Always Love You is clearly mutual.
In April, my colleague Ramon Antonio Vargas reported on a poll of Americans’ opinions about more than 20 international luminaries that established as much, with the 11-time Grammy winner and philanthropist leaving her two closest competitors – Barack Obama and Volodymyr Zelenskyy – in the dust by more than 50 percentage points.
Of 1,000 people surveyed by the University of Massachusetts and the market research firm YouGov heading into April, 70% of them had a favorable impression of Parton, an 11-time Grammy winner. Only 5% had an unfavorable impression of her, giving her a net favorability of 65%.
Obama, the US president from 2009 to 2017, had the poll’s next highest net favorability at 14%. He scored 50% favorability and 36% unfavorability among those surveyed.
And rounding out the poll’s metaphorical podium with a 12% net favorability was Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, which has been defending itself from invading Russian forces since February 2022. He arrived at that number after 35% of those surveyed reported having a favorable opinion of him and 22% indicated an unfavorable view of him.
Parton and Obama were the only public figures in the poll about whom at least half of the survey’s respondents had a favorable opinion.
Beside Parton’s nearly seven-decade musical career and her acting on films such as the critically acclaimed 9 to 5, a factor in her over-performance on the UMass/YouGov poll is almost certainly her mostly apolitical public relations strategy.
“Everybody knows I don’t do politics,” she said in a 2017 interview cited by the political news outlet the Hill. “I’ve got as many Republican fans as Democrats, and I don’t want to make any of them mad at me, so I don’t play politics.”
Parton’s prolific philanthropic work, meanwhile, has surely won her many admirers.
She received the prestigious Carnegie medal of philanthropy in 2022, as Time noted in recognizing her as one of its most influential philanthropists in 2025.
“I just give from my heart,” Parton said as she accepted the Carnegie medal. “I just see a need, and if I can fill it, then I will.”
Mick Jagger wrote on X: “What a wonderful songwriter and singer Dolly was. She brought so many people together, we will all miss her so much.”
And second lady Usha Vance said: “As four-time subscribers to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and lifelong fans of her music, our family knows that Dolly Parton loved a good story. I hope that you’ll pick up a book and celebrate the magic of storytelling in her honor today.”
Former vice-president Kamala Harris said on X:
Dolly Parton was a true American icon. First introduced to the world as a ‘little girl from up in East Tennessee,’ she became a global superstar. Her career accolades included 11 Grammy awards, an Emmy, an honorary Oscar, and – my favorite – more than 300 million books sent to millions of children around the world through her Imagination Library. All at once she was kind, modest, and funny. With her music, her philanthropy, and her style, Dolly was one of one. Doug and I send our prayers to her family, friends, and all those who have been touched by her magic. We will always love you, Dolly.
Former president Bill Clinton shared this tribute:
Dolly Parton was one of a kind – a great songwriter and performer who told the stories of everyday Americans with honesty, humility, and heart. She rose high from her East Tennessee roots and never forgot where she came from. And she always believed in giving back, especially in her efforts to promote literacy. Hillary and I were big fans and first saw her in 1974, and will always be grateful for the music and the memories. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, her legion of fans, and everyone who loved her.
