Dolly Parton was hospitalized for kidney and autoimmune issues days before her death at age 80, according to a new report.
The country music legend was admitted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday morning, reports said. She died in the same hospital early Tuesday morning, five days after being admitted.
Parton, 80, had been candid about her declining health in what would become her final interview, published Friday in People. She told the magazine she was “dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” referring to her husband Carl Dean, who died in March 2025 at age 82.
She also noted, “It’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health.”
Earlier this month, Parton canceled a planned appearance at her Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, after her doctor ordered her not to travel. In a pre-recorded video shown at that event, she explained, “Sometimes I get a little dizzy, and I get dehydrated. And so my Nashville doctor clipped my wings, saying, ‘You ain’t traveling this week.'”
Last September, Parton skipped another Dollywood appearance after she suffered from kidney stones. She told fans at the time, “Turns out there was an infection, and the doctor said, ‘You don’t need to be traveling around this minute, so you need a few days to get better.’ So he suggested I not go to Dollywood today.”
Despite these mounting health issues, Parton appeared in good spirits during her virtual appearance at the Academy of Country Music Honors on Aug. 19, which marked her final public showing before her death. She wore a long sleeve cream top and had her famous blond hair pinned in a messy updo.
“You know, I’ve been able to do many things throughout my life, but at my core, songwriting has always been the most important part of who I am creatively,” she said in that video.
Parton’s nephew and longtime head of security, Bryan Seaver, revealed her passing in an Instagram post on Tuesday. He explained that the video announcement was “something Dolly asked of me years ago before I fully absorbed it as a future reality.”
Seaver also shared that the singer had told him she “wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton, because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest.”
Parton’s publicity team confirmed her death on Tuesday in a statement.
“A rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see, Dolly will forever stand as an inspiration not only through her timeless music and prolific songwriting, but also her wit, warmth and kindness that made us all feel like family,” her reps said.
In the viral moment that preceded her hospitalization, Parton had been actively working and making appearances even as her health declined, with her final interview and her ACM Honors appearance both occurring within days of her admission to Vanderbilt. The cascade of canceled Dollywood appearances, first in September for kidney stones and again this month for dehydration and dizziness, now reads as foreshadowing of the serious kidney and autoimmune issues that would lead to her final hospitalization.
Her husband Dean’s death in March at age 82 had also taken a visible toll, with Parton acknowledging she had neglected her own health while caring for him.
Parton will be laid to rest in Nashville, though specific funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.