As fans worried about her health, Dolly Parton sent a message of her own to PEOPLE magazine: she was still on the job.
“Seriously, though, even though I’m still healin’, I’m still workin’,” she said.
In the same interview, she addressed the attention surrounding her condition.
“It’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health,” she said. “But I think because we live in a 24/7 world with social media, everything gets magnified in ways it wasn’t years ago. I used to joke that I was the Queen of the Tabloids, but now I guess I can say I’m the Queen of Social Media AI!”
TMZ has since described a different scene behind the scenes.
Citing sources familiar with the situation, the outlet reported that Parton controlled who could see her in her final days. The outlet did not name those sources.
One person kept her place at Parton’s side: Cheryl Riddle, the singer’s longtime hair and makeup stylist.
Parton allowed Riddle to stay near her, TMZ reported, while she restricted visits from friends and relatives.
According to the outlet, Parton “wanted to be all dolled up after she passed.”
Riddle would prepare her hair and makeup after her death, so the singer felt comfortable letting the stylist see what most others could not.
TMZ reported that her instruction to Riddle was to keep her looking like Dolly.
The outlet also reported that Parton did not want people to remember her in a fragile condition.
Her family felt the restrictions. Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, visited the day before she died, according to TMZ. Other relatives were denied access.
Parton died Aug. 25 at age 80. Her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, announced that she died after a “brief battle with cancer.”
“After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones,” his statement said.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville had admitted her for kidney and autoimmune issues. Health concerns had also forced her to cancel her Las Vegas residency earlier this year.
Parton had said she put her own medical needs aside while she cared for her husband, Carl Dean.
“I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” she told PEOPLE.
Dean died in March 2025 at 82. The couple had been married for nearly 59 years.
Parton had faced health trouble before. She recalled a stretch in the early 1980s when she was “down for several months with female issues.”
Her death closed a career built on songs that have endured, including “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You.”
She also built a business empire. Her ventures included Dollywood, the theme park in the Smoky Mountain foothills near the area where she grew up.
Her influence reached beyond music and business. Her Imagination Library has distributed hundreds of millions of free books to children, and her charitable contributions helped fund vaccine research.
Pariseau highlighted that generosity in his statement.
“Our beloved Dolly Parton spent her life and career bringing joy, laughter, hope and integrity into everything she touched,” he said. “Her unmatched generosity reached the lives of countless people whom she would never meet, yet she was always there to offer a helping hand.”
He credited her “unconditional love for all people” as the “guiding force for her lasting impact.”
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