Dolly Parton has long had to explain her iconic look and fashion choices, and she keeps doing so with a self-assured grace, despite the raised eyebrows aimed her way.
Ahead of the November release of Parton's album "Rockstar" and her book "Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones," which will be released this month, the "Jolene" singer sat down with the Guardian. In the new interview published Monday, Parton revealed that, growing up, she was punished verbally and physically for her risque flair.
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The acclaimed country star has long been candid about how the "town tramp" inspired her look.
"She was flamboyant. She had bright red lipstick, long red fingernails," Parton told the Guardian. "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."
Parton said people around town would describe the woman as "nothing but trash," but Parton would stare at her with stars in her eyes.
"Well, that's what I'm gonna be when I grow up," she'd quip.
Per the Guardian, Parton's grandfather, a preacher, punished her for her style sensibilities, but it didn't dissuade her.
"I was willing to pay for it," Parton continued. "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."
During a 1977 interview with Barbara Walters — which has resurfaced in recent years for Walters' brazen questioning of Parton regarding her appearance — Walters told Parton, "You don't have to look like this; you're very beautiful. You don't have to wear the blond wigs. You don't have to wear the extreme clothes."
The "9 to 5" star replied, "It's certainly a choice. I don't like to be like everybody else. I've often made the statement that I would never stoop so low as to be fashionable, as that's the easiest thing in the world to do. … I'm very real, where it counts, and that's inside."
When Walters asked Parton if she ever felt like she was a joke, the Grammy winner said, "All these years, the people have thought the joke was on me, but it's actually been on the public. I know exactly what I'm doing. … I'm sure of myself as a person, I'm sure of my talent."
In 2021, Oprah asked Parton if she'd ever been hurt by the jokes and mentioned the 1977 Walters interview.
"In the early days, I think it used to bother me," Parton said. "I mean it didn't change me, didn't make me do it different. But I kind of get a little embarrassed sometimes if somebody made too much fun of it. But that was when I knew they didn't know who I was."
Parton's 49th album, "Rockstar," dropping Nov. 17, features "Let It Be," which she sings with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Mick Fleetwood is on the drums, and Peter Frampton plays guitar. She also has songs that feature Elton John, Debbie Harry, Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett and Judas Priest's Rob Halford. Lizzo joins Parton on "Stairway to Heaven."
"Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones," which documents her life and career in gem-encrusted clothing and costumes, hits bookstore shelves Oct. 17.
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Emily St. Martin
Los Angeles Times
