Dolly Parton issues health update after going through ‘hard times’

Anna LorenSat, August 22, 2026 at 7:35 AM UTC

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Country music star Dolly Parton has delivered a health update, saying that she has been through “hard times”.

The 80-year-old was forced to pull out of attending the opening night of a new attraction at Dollywood, her Tennessee theme park, earlier this month due to ongoing issues.

The singer suffered dizziness and dehydration and her doctor advised her against travel.

In a new interview with People, Parton said that she put her own health issues to the side while caring for her husband, Carl Thomas Dean.

Dean, who was married to Parton for nearly 60 years, died in March 2025 at the age of 82.

“I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” Parton said.

The 'Jolene' hitmaker was forced to postpone her Las Vegas residency in 2025 due to her ongoing health issues (AFP/Getty)

However, she added that her health issues had been “magnified” by social media.

“It’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health,” Parton told People.

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“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!

“Seriously, though, even though I’m still healin’, I’m still workin’.”

Parton has joked that she ‘ain’t dead yet’ (Getty Images)

The social media speculation earlier prompted Parton to post a video in October 2025, joking that she “ain’t dead yet”.

In the video, posted to Instagram, she said: “There are just a lot of rumours flying around. But I figured if you heard it from me, you’d know that I was OK.”

In May, Parton was forced to cancel a Las Vegas residency due to ill health.

She told her Instagram followers that “everything I have is treatable” but said it would take a while “before I’m up to stage-performance level”.

She was originally due to perform six shows at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in December, but was forced to postpone them due to unspecified “health challenges”.

“The good news is I’m responding really well to meds and treatments and I’m improving every day,” she said in the Instagram video.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”