Dolly Parton, the legendary country singer who died on August 25 at the age of 80, spoke openly in the months before her death about her relationship with aging, describing it as mostly a matter of mindset and insisting she had too much left to do to worry about it.
A few months before turning 80, Parton told PEOPLE magazine that she felt she was "just getting started," despite the milestone birthday, and explained how she managed to feel younger than her years.
According to Parton, if you let yourself grow old, you will grow old. She said people often asked her how she managed not to look like she was aging, and that her answer was always the same: she did not have time to grow old, and did not have time to sit around thinking about it, because her mind was elsewhere. She made the comments last November around the release of her autobiography.
A memoir to close the circle
Parton also told PEOPLE she had begun thinking about her legacy and what she wanted to leave behind, which inspired her to write her memoir, "Star of the Show: My Life on Stage."
She said that when you reach her age, you start thinking about what you need to get done to close the circle, making sure you leave behind what you want the world to know about you, in your own words and from your own heart. That, she said, was why she thought the book was a good opportunity.
Looking ahead, not counting years
Although Parton did not place much importance on age itself, she told Oprah Winfrey in 2020 that she did think about how she wanted to look in the future.
She said she did not think about her life in terms of numbers, and that she would be the best version of herself whatever her age was. She said she was willing to bet she would not look very different at 95, if she lived that long, because she compared herself to the Gabor sisters.
Parton added that she would look like a cartoon, that she would be made up, and that she would look as young as her plastic surgeons allowed. But she said what mattered most was what came from inside a person, calling it a matter of attitude and saying you had to shine from within, which she said could sometimes make you feel young and appear young to others too.
Reflections on faith and losing her husband
Despite her steady focus on the future, Parton also spoke at times about what she believed came after life. In an interview with the Associated Press in 2025, shortly after the death of her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, she said she truly believed she would see him again one day.
Angels, golden harps and a divine plan
In a 2019 episode of the podcast "Dolly Parton's America," she spoke about how her Christian faith shaped her thinking about the afterlife. She said she was no saint, but that as a person of Christian faith she hoped humans passed into something greater. She said she believed everyone was part of a grand divine plan, and that she hoped to go up there, keep writing, keep singing, play golden harps, write more songs, have her own mansion, walk the golden streets of glory and keep doing that forever. She said she would definitely join the band of angels, adding that she wanted to play in that band and maybe play a harp up there too, though she said she did not really know.
Asked about what comes after death, Parton said you simply hope and have faith, and that this was what faith meant. She said she believed things would be better, and that she did not think it was the end for her, nor for any of us. She said she believed people are recycled and return to a great flow of divine energy, and that she hoped humans could continue to exist in other wonderful ways. That, she said, was what she hoped for.
