Dolly Parton, patron saint of country music and one of the last great things about America, is alive, well and still hard at work, she reassured fans in a video Wednesday.
“Do I look sick to you? I’m working hard here,” Parton, 79, said in the two-minute video filmed while she was recording commercials for the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville’s legendary music venue. “I ain’t dead yet!” she captioned the video.
“I wanted to put everybody’s mind at ease ― those of you that seem to be real concerned, which I appreciate,” Parton said, adding, “I can always use prayers for anything and everything, but I want you to know that I’m OK.”
The record-breaking musician posted the video a day after one of her sisters, Freida Parton, posted on Facebook that she was “up all night praying for my sister, Dolly” who “hasn’t been feeling her best lately.”
Dolly Parton performs during an event celebrating the Missouri statewide expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.
“Godspeed, my sissy Dolly,” she wrapped up the message, instilling panic among fans of Parton, beloved not just for her prolific recording career but also for her profound kindness and generosity, support of the LGBTQ+ community and literacy initiatives.
“I’m not ready to die yet,” Parton said. “I don’t think God is through with me, and I ain’t done working. So, I love you for caring and keep praying for me.”
Her sister later clarified in another Facebook post that she “didn’t mean to scare anyone” on Tuesday and that Parton was just “a little under the weather.”
In her video, Parton divulged that she has had some health problems following the death of her husband in March. The issues are “nothing major,” she said, but they have required her to cancel some events so she can be closer to home while receiving “a few treatments here and there.”
Parton seemed especially amused by an AI-generated image of her with fellow country music star Reba McEntire that made the rounds. In it, McEntire is depicted alongside Parton on her deathbed.
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“We both looked like we needed to be buried,” Parton said.