Years before her death, Dolly Parton predicted a “trashy” joke would wind up on her tombstone
The country music icon Dolly Parton’s nephew, Bryan Seaver, shared the sad news of her death on August 25, after what her team confirmed was a “brief battle” with cancer in a statement to PEOPLE.
During her long career, Dolly managed to touch the hearts of millions. Her death marks the end of an extraordinary life and career, but her music, films, songwriting and countless contributions to others will ensure that her legacy lives on for generations to come.
But Dolly was more than her music. She was also known for her unique sense of style, bold fashion statements and, perhaps most importantly, the humor with which she took on both.
Dolly Parton fashion
Ever since she was a little girl, Dolly Parton loved fashion.
In an interview with the Guardian, she once described how one of her biggest inspirations as a little girl was a local woman called the “town tramp.”
“She was flamboyant, she had bright red lipstick, long red fingernails. She had high-heeled shoes, little floating plastic goldfish in the heels of them, short skirts, low-cut tops, and I just thought she was beautiful. When people would say, ‘She ain’t nothing but trash,’ I would always say, ‘Well, that’s what I’m gonna be when I grow up,’” she said.
Her own fashion choices, however, also came with consequences. Both her dad and her grandfather disapproved, and tragically, her grandfather physically abused her.
“I was willing to pay for it,” Dolly Parton revealed. “I’m very sensitive, I didn’t like being disciplined – it hurt my feelings so bad to be scolded or whipped or whatever. But sometimes there’s just that part of you that’s willing, if you want something bad enough, to go for it.”
She always went her own way
Still, Dolly went her own way. Throughout the years, she remained unapologetically herself, turning the very things people criticized about her appearance into an unmistakable part of her identity.
In the 1982 movie “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” one of her most famous lines about fashion came as she said “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.”
The line became so celebrated and closely associated with Dolly that, years later, she even joked that it might one day follow her beyond her life.
In a 2008 interview with Vanity Fair, Dolly joked that the line could make it onto her epitaph, alongside “several requisite cracks about her ample bust size,” according to New York Post.
And perhaps that joke says more about Dolly than any carefully written tribute ever could.
She knew exactly how people saw her, and she never seemed interested in apologizing for any of it. Instead, made it part of her charm and what the world loved about her.
Rest in peace, Dolly. You will never be forgotten.
READ MORE
- Dolly Parton’s ever-present long sleeves hid a more personal story than many realized
- New details emerge about Dolly Parton’s secret hospital visit just days before her death
