Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in a one-room cabin that belonged to Avie Lee Caroline and Robert Lee Parton Sr., who worked as a sharecropper. Dolly was the fourth of her parent’s 12 children and therefore, witnessed days of abject poverty during her childhood days. However, she grew up surrounded by music and launched her musical career at the age of 10. Dolly Parton has spent close to six decades in the public eye. Today, she is one of the most successful and celebrated country music stars with several Golden Globe and Grammy nominations and awards to her credit and more than two dozen of her albums have achieved the gold status.
Popular Music Star
Over the years, Dolly has evolved from being just a popular music star to being a Hollywood actress, a businesswoman and a staunch feminist who brought to the fore the experiences of women, especially during the second half of the century. Though she started as a country music star with roots in Nashville music, she eventually turned into a mainstream country star and paved way for the thousands of country performers who took inspiration from her and built her career along the same path.
Though Dolly Parton has enjoyed the kind of love and adulation that not many receive, she has also been constantly hounded by rumours. Well, being in the public eye is not all that amazing. Dolly does not have any children of her own and that has led to tabloids labelling her gay and linking her with her best female friend. Then, newspapers have also informed the public that Dolly has had a string of affairs in her 56-year-long marriage. However, there is one other rumour that keeps coming back time and again: Dolly Parton has secret, sexy tattoos that she does not want to reveal. In this video, we get to the bottom of this rumour and find out the truth behind Dolly Parton’s secret tattoos.
Brushing Off All Reports About Her Tattoos
For many, many years, Dolly Parton continued to jokingly brush off all reports about her tattoos. However, fans continued with the speculations and tabloids and magazines kept hounding the country music legend for comments on the topic. This year, Dolly decided to come clean on the topic and shared with the People magazine that yes, she has tattoos on her body. However, she gets them for a reason and all the tattoos she has have been tastefully done. She further cleared that she is not a tattoo girl.
Dolly Parton who has enjoyed immense popularity for over six decades now started her musical career at the age of 10, performed at the Grand Ole Opry at the age of 13 and has never looked back ever since. Though Dumb Blonde was one of her first successful singles, the country star says she is a smart country girl.
Dolly Parton may be 74 now but she isn’t willing to slow down or stop. She still walks into studios for meetings in five-inch stilettos. She is planning to drop a new album this Christmas and before that, in November, she has a new book coming out titled Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics. Dolly is well aware that people see her as a feminist icon and therefore, she makes it a point to not accept labels or let her feminity be the reason for taking a backseat in life.
Rumors About Her Big Boobs
During the interview with the People magazine, Dolly confessed that through her career, Dolly has encountered many rumours about her. However, the most common one is not the one about her tattoos but her big boobs. She shared that once every three years, some or the other tabloid picks up the topic of her big breasts and reports that Dolly is bedridden because her breasts are so heavy that they have crippled her for life.
The tabloid then goes on to report that Dolly will have to eventually undergo surgery to be able to lead life normally and all tabloids inevitably pick up some random picture from one of her old videos and use them alongside the story. Dolly says that if her breasts were indeed such a great source of the problem, she would have undergone surgery long ago. However, she has grown used to reading rumours and fake news about her and usually laughs off most of these rumours.
So, how did the rumour about her tattoos start? We have some clues. However, before we share them with you and finally tell you the reason why Dolly decided to get tattoos, we want to request you to take a moment to like and subscribe to our channel.
The tittle-tattle about Dolly Parton’s tattoos started probably because Dolly Parton has always favoured long-sleeved outfits over bold attires. However, since most of her fans see the country star as a blonde bombshell who is as blessed in the looks department as in the talent department, it seems odd that she would make such a choice. Thus, the theory that Dolly has tattoos that she wants to hide seemed to fit the entire scenario and therefore, picked up quickly and has stayed around since.
The truth, on the other hand, is that the country star prefers wearing long-sleeved clothes because she genuinely does not like showing off skin. Don’t believe us? Go back and see the videos belonging to the early phase of the star’s career — you will find Dolly wearing full-sleeved dresses in most of these videos.
A Rose Between Her Breasts
Tired of the gossip regarding her tattoos that had gone on for years, Parton first decided to open up about her ink during an interview with Jay Leno in 1999. The former late-night television host was also the first public figure to ask Dolly openly about her tattoos. At the time, Dolly hadn’t shed much light on the topic but had shared with the viewers of the show that she had an angel and a butterfly. The interview appeased the speculating fans for a while. However, in 2012, rumours started emerging that Dolly had a rose between her breasts. Once again, Dolly decided to sit down, this time with Anderson Cooper and clear the air. She denied all such rumours and in an effort to put an end to them, even shared a little bit of her cleavage with the audiences.
The rumour mill once again went into silent mode for a few months. However, in 2014, after Jezebel make a report that Dolly Parton’s arms and boobs cover in secret tattoos, the rumour once again gained traction. When Dolly decided to visit the Today show, host Savannah Guthrie asked her about her tattoos and the country star once again laughed off the rumours saying people say all kinds of stuff about her and it doesn’t bother her anymore.
Keloid Scars
In 2016, in a memorable interview with Larry King, Dolly Parton finally told the world that she had Keloid scars that become supremely prominent because of her fair skin. Keloid scars are often a result of injuries and surgeries and usually are bigger than the wound that causes them in the first place. Dolly shared that her keloid scars had giver her a purple look that she did not like and since she believes in looking for positivity even in negative experiences, she decided to change her scars into flowers and butterflies. According to Dolly, these flowers and butterflies represent her theme park, Dollywood. Further, they narrate the story that Dolly narrated in one of her songs, the story of her getting lost in woods and being chased by butterflies.
In her interview with the People magazine given this year, Dolly cleared it once and for all that her tattoos are not sexy and were not designed to make any big statements. Instead, she used her pretty and artful tattoos that feature ribbons and bows to cover her scars. She also finally shed light on what caused her keloid scars. The celebrated artist shared with her fans that she was sick for a very long while and therefore, had to wear a feeding tube, which left an indentation on her body, which eventually turned purple. For Dolly, the ink was the only way to convert what was a negative experience into a positive one. She, therefore, visited a tattoo artist and decided to get a beehive inked over her scar.
Dolly Parton Marry Carl Thomas Dean
Dolly married Carl Thomas Dean on May 30, 1966, in Ringgold, Georgia, in a very small ceremony. Dean is a private person who rarely makes any red carpet appearances alongside his wife and has seen Dolly perform only once. However, according to Dolly, the two share a lovely relationship and that her husband’s spontaneity keeps the spark in the relationship alive. When asked if she has her husband’s name inked on her body, Dolly replied that his name is etched on her heart forever. However, she is open to the idea of getting his name tattooed in the future.
So, does Dolly Parton have you convinced with her keloid scar theory or do you still think she is hiding something sexier underneath those long-sleeved clothes? On a related topic, which Dolly Parton song is your favourite? Jolene is certainly at the very top of our list. Share your favourite Dolly Parton song as well as your opinion on the star’s tattoos in the comments section below! Before you hit play on the next Facts Verse video, please take a moment to like and subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon to stay updated about all our latest updates.
