Dolly Parton turns 80! Here’s the 8 reasons we love the iconic, multi-talented star
It’s hard to believe, but the queen of country, the grande dame of rhinestones, the little girl from Tennessee, Dolly Parton is 80 years old!
If you can’t tell from the intro, Dolly is an icon, a legend, a trailblazer and deserves all the love and praise on her milestone birthday.
There’s lots to love about Dolly, but we’ve managed to narrow it down to the top 8 below!
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Dolly was born in a one-room cabin on the banks of Little Pigeon River in Pittman Center, Tennessee on January 19, 1946. She is the fourth of 12 (yes 12!) children in her family, which struggled financially much of her young life but was no less filled with love.
As Dolly told Southern Living once, "I'm proud of my hillbilly, white trash background. To me that keeps you humble; that keeps you good. And it doesn't matter how hard you try to outrun it. If that's who you are, that's who you are. It'll show up once in a while."
GENERATIONAL TALENT
It’s estimated that Dolly has written 3,000 songs throughout her career, whether for herself or for other artists. A popular story goes that she wrote two of her most famous hits, “I Will Always Love You” and “Jolene” on the same day, proof of her incredible talent. (Dolly has slightly debunked that story, telling The Guardian that the songs were found on the same tape so were likely written within a few days of each other if not on the exact same day.)
It’s understandable Dolly’s songwriting would be the stuff of legend given how prolific she is as a songwriter. Reflecting on her incredible catalog, Dolly told The Guardian in 2024, “Well, I’m proud of all of them. I think the one that’s most personal to me is the lil’ ‘Coat of Many Colors,’ because it talks about my mom, my parents, and kind of gives you an insight. It also covers bullying, acceptance and all that. Of course, the one that’s most recorded is ‘Jolene.' That seems to be the favorite – do you know that song has been recorded, somebody told me, 450 times in the last 52 years? I’m so proud of it. And 'I Will Always Love You' is one of the great love songs, so I’m very proud of that too.”
ICONIC STYLE
The hair. The rhinestones. Theenhancements. Dolly has always had a distinctive, hyper feminine and fun look that she’s never been shy about. As she famously said, “It takes a lot of money to look this cheap.”
She also once hilariously shared the inspiration for her style was a woman of ill repute in her small town.
“The way I look and the way I looked then was a country girl’s idea of glam, just like I wrote in my ‘Backwoods Barbie’ song, but people wanted me to change,” she said on the “WorkLife with Adam Grant” podcast. “They thought I looked cheap, but I patterned my look after the town tramp. And everybody said, ‘She’s trash.’ And in my little girl mind, I thought, ‘Well, that’s what I’m going to be when I grow up.’”
EVERLASTING LOVE
One of the most endearing elements of Dolly’s life has been her everlasting devotion to her late husband, Carl Dean.
Carl remained completely out of the spotlight, and the couple was incredibly private about their marriage, but Dolly shared a little insight into their romance after he passed away at age 82 in March 2025.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers in sympathy,” Dolly said in a statement on Instagram.
A few days later, she dedicated the song, “If You Hadn’t Been There” on Instagram, writing, “I fell in love with Carl Dean when I was 18 years old. We have spent 60 precious and meaningful years together. Like all great love stories, they never end. They live on in memory and song. He will always be the star of my life story, and I dedicate this song to him.”
BUSINESS SAVVY
Dolly may have a bright and bubbly personality, but there’s a business savvy shark hiding behind that blonde bouffant. She owns her entire music catalog, which includes the rights to her hits like “I Will Always Love You,” a song that has generated heaps of money in royalties over the years.
She’s also made wise business investments through her Dollywood Company over the years, including creating the Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
“When I first had the big idea to start Dollywood, my accountants and lawyers all thought I was making a big mistake,” Parton told Forbes. “But I felt a calling to do this. So I got rid of all of them and brought in people who had faith in me. I told them, ‘You need to listen to what my dreams are. I don’t need to dream your dreams; you need to help me carry out mine.’”
GIVES BACK
Forbes estimates that Dolly is worth a whopping $450 million from her songwriting catalog, Dollywood theme park, and other business ventures. But as much as she makes, she’s keen to give back as well.
The Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has been in operation for over 30 years, gifting books to children from birth to age five, no matter the family’s income. In 2023, the organization had mailed out it’s 200 millionth book, and as of 2024, 14% of children under 5 in the U.S. receives a book in the mail each month from the program.
Dolly has also donated to other charitable causes, like AIDS research and relief for wildfire victims, as well as $1 million towards the research that produced the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
SENSE OF HUMOR
Dolly has a great sense of humor about everything, including herself. She’s the first to make a joke about herself that has everyone laughing with her instead of at her.
“I know people make fun of me. All these years, people think the joke has been on me but it’s actually been on the public. I know exactly what I’m doing I make more jokes about myself than anybody,” she told Barbara Walters in an 1977 interview.
SHE'S UNSTOPPABLE
Even at 80, Dolly has zero plans of slowing down or retiring, even as she’s faced a few health issues that have forced her to postpone shows and her upcoming Las Vegas residency.
As she told People last November, “People say, ‘Well, you’re going to be 80 years old.’ Well, so what? Look at all I’ve done in 80 years. I feel like I’m just getting started. I know that sounds stupid, but unless my health gives way, which right now I seem to be doing fine . . . I think there’s a lot to be said about age. If you allow yourself to get old, you will. I say, ‘I ain’t got time to get old!’ I ain’t got time to dwell on that. That’s not what I’m thinking about.”
