Stella Parton has revealed the last thing her sister Dolly asked of her before the country legend’s death.
Stella, 77, said Mornings host Gayle King that the ‘9 to 5’ singer’s final request was simply a prayer. The younger sister shared the detail during an emotional interview that aired in the weeks following Dolly’s passing on August 25, when the ‘Jolene’ singer died at 80 following a short battle with cancer.
The family has chosen not to disclose what type of cancer Dolly had, and Stella explained the reasoning behind that decision.
“She didn’t ask them not to disclose the type of cancer, although she didn’t tell them to,” Stella said. “It was her business.”
Stella said Dolly had been “prepared and at peace” with her death, and had even offered to take experimental drugs to help others even if they could not save her own life.
“She knew where she was goin’,” Stella shared. “She wasn’t goin’ anywhere bad. She was going to be with Mama and Daddy.”
Dolly had kept her health struggles largely private, Stella noted, partly because not all relatives had been told, and partly because the star “didn’t want to make the public sad” and “couldn’t bear negative things.”
The secrecy had been tested last October when the sisters’ younger sibling, Freida Parton, posted on Facebook asking fans to pray for Dolly’s health without specifying the issues. Stella told King she suspected Dolly had gently rebuked Freida for that post.
“I think Dolly got onto Freida about that,” Stella said. “I don’t know, because I haven’t asked Freida because it was very touchy about all that. So I didn’t wanna hurt Freida’s feelings, and I didn’t wanna mention it to Dolly, but I’m pretty sure Dolly said, ‘Pipe it down.'”
The death came a year after Dolly’s husband of six decades, Carl Dean, died at 82. Stella has been the family’s most visible voice since the loss, taking to Instagram on September 4 to address both supporters and online exploitation.
“First let me say, thank you to the ones of you who have shown ‘genuine’ support and love during this time of our family bereavement,” she wrote. “We will be okay in time but each of us will grieve in our own personal way.”
Stella continued: “Every human being experiences pain and loss in life and my family is no different.”
She then turned her attention to what she described as a flood of false content surrounding her sister’s death.
“Sadly, because of the way our lives have been lived in front of the public, we have no choice but to be subjected to incredible pressure and insensitivity from strangers,” Stella wrote. “There is a tremendous amount of AI and endless garbage being posted everyday and it’s been challenging to absorb and or ignore.”
She predicted the misinformation would eventually subside as exploiters moved “to the next stampede of endless misinformation,” and added that Dolly would have been “delighted” at the genuine love the family had received.
The October Facebook post from Freida had been the first public hint of health troubles, though at the time no specifics were given. Dolly cancelled appearances in the months that followed, with the full scope of her condition remaining private until her nephew confirmed her death via an Instagram story on August 25.