Dolly Parton hid cancer diagnosis to keep fans from worrying, sister says

Dolly Parton’s sister is sharing why the legendary singer kept her cancer diagnosis a secret.

In an interview with “CBS Mornings'” scheduled to air Thursday, Sept. 10, her sister, Stella Parton, said Dolly didn’t go public with her cancer diagnosis because she “did not want people sad,” revealing she didn’t even share the news with her entire family.

“Well, Dolly did not want anybody to tell that, because Dolly could not bear negative things, and she would not have wanted her fans worried about it,” she shared. “She didn’t want a lot of the family worried about it. Some of us knew, the ones that were closer, but not every relative.”

The “Jolene” singer died at the age of 80 Aug. 25 after a “brief battle with cancer.”

Dolly Parton’s sister revealed why the singer didn’t share her cancer diagnosis. (Getty Images)

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News of her death was announced on her Instagram by her nephew, Bryan Seaver, in which he highlighted her body of work as a musician, as well as her philanthropic work with the Imagination Library.

Her death inspired tributes on social media from fans around the world, including musicians and actors, something Stella says the “9 to 5” star would have been happy with.

“She’d be really happy and delighted that people have shown her so much love because she knew that that would make us feel better as her family,” Stella said. “Bottom line, end of the day, her family and Carl’s family and probably Judy’s family are the people that she would want to say, ‘See, everything I did, they cared. They really loved me.”

Dolly rose to stardom in 1967 when she began appearing on “The Porter Wagoner Show.” During her time on the show, the two released many iconic duets and were nominated for many Grammys together.

Parton shot to stardom in 1967 when she began appearing on “The Porter Wagoner Show.” (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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She chose to leave the show and focus on her solo career in 1974, after seven years with the program.

In an effort to explain to Wagoner, who had become her close friend during her tenure on the show and was unhappy with the news, why she needed to leave the show, she wrote one of her biggest hits, “I Will Always Love You.”

“I sang the song alone in his office — just me and my guitar,” she told Howard Stern in 2023, adding that he replied, “That’s the best song you’ve ever wrote … You can go if I can produce the song.”

She won 10 Grammy Awards, received a Kennedy Center Honor, got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame.

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Dolly got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984. (Ralph Dominguez/MediaPunch via Getty Images)

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In addition to her success as a country music star, Dolly was also a philanthropist. She launched the Imagination Library, a book gifting program which sends one book a month to children across the country regardless of their family’s economic status.

“When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true,” Dolly said in a statement on the organization’s website. “I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister.

“Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer,” she continued. “The seeds of these dreams are often found in books, and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world.”

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