Miley Cyrus has shared an emotional Instagram tribute detailing her final conversation with godmother Dolly Parton following the country legend’s death.
The “Flowers” singer, 32, posted the message on Wednesday, three days after Parton died at age 80 on Tuesday. Her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, 63, also broke his silence with his own lengthy social media remembrance of the “9 to 5” hitmaker.
“The feeling of losing my Aunt Dolly is beyond what feels right to share,” Cyrus wrote on Instagram.
“Our most sacred moments were private and they’ll stay there behind the stage, beneath the glamour & between our hearts.”
“What I KNOW is Dolly would want me to feel it, write a song about it, and then continue on and be strong. I have an angel by my side,” she continued. “I always have. One of our last conversations was about music and metamorphosis. 🦋.”
“I will always love her and want to make her proud,” Cyrus added. “My heart breaks for the world, her family and friends who will miss her deeply. We’re in this loss together and we will see her in all of the most beautiful things. 💖.”
Billy Ray Cyrus shared his own memories via social media, recalling how he asked Parton to be Miley’s godmother while touring together in 1992. The “Old Town Road” singer had opened for Parton that year when tabloid stories falsely alleged the two were having an affair.
“I have so many moments and memories with Dolly, it’s hard to know where to start,” he wrote. “Like every little boy, I grew up loving Dolly Parton. She was a part of our lives, on our TV’s, right in our living rooms.”
He remembered walking into Parton’s dressing room to apologize for the affair rumors. “In true Dolly fashion, she just looked at me, winked and said, ‘Honey, this trash sells records!'” he shared.
“Dolly recently sent me a beautiful message, telling me she loved me with her whole heart. I will always love her in the same way … with my whole heart … and I always will,” Billy Ray added.
Parton herself had confirmed the godmother arrangement during a 2009 “Good Morning America” appearance. “When she was born, he said, ‘You just have to be her godmother,’ and I said, ‘I accept,'” she recalled.
The bond between Parton and Miley Cyrus remained strong over the decades. They collaborated on multiple projects and performances, and Cyrus once called Parton “the most loved person on the planet.” Speaking to Seth Meyers in 2021, Cyrus said of Parton’s global impact: “She’s left this big mark on the entire world, that all of us are just trying to fill her crystallized shoes, which is never going to happen.”
Parton’s death was confirmed on Aug. 25 by her nephew Bryan Seaver, who had served as her head of security for more than two decades.
“As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it until now,” Seaver said in a video posted to Instagram. “It is an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness [to announce this news]. But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly.”
He credited Parton with opening doors “for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians and dreamers” from every background. “By her example, we believed that anything was possible,” he continued. “She never saw a door she couldn’t open and the doors she opened made and changed history.”
Seaver revealed one of Parton’s final requests: to be laid 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.”
Reports said that Parton will be buried in Nashville following a small private service for immediate family in the coming days.
In the viral moment that preceded her death, Parton had been hospitalized at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville on Aug. 20 with kidney and autoimmune issues, just days before she passed. She had said on Aug. 21 that she was “dealing with some health issues that [she] just didn’t pay attention to” while caring for her husband Carl Dean before his death in March 2025. Parton had first revealed health problems in September 2025 when kidney stones forced her to miss a Dollywood appearance, and she later canceled multiple engagements including her Las Vegas residency, though she insisted in May that she was “improving every day.” Her final public appearance came in June at the ribbon-cutting for her Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop, where she appeared via video message.