Dolly Parton Opens Up About Health Amid ‘Hard Times’

Dolly Parton has shared a health update with her fans as she works through “hard times.”

On Friday, the 9 to 5 singer confessed to People, “I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” referring to her last few months with her late husband Carl Thomas Dean, who died at 82 years old in March 2025.

Dolly assured her fans she has dealt with similar woes before and she is taking care of it.

“It’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health,” she explained. “But I think because we live in a 24/7 world with social media, everything gets magnified in ways it wasn’t years ago.

“Seriously, though, even though I’m still healin’, I’m still workin‘,” she added.

Dolly first sparked concerns in September 2025, when she was missing in action at an event in her iconic amusement park Dollywood. To supplement her physical appearance, she instead sent a video to explain her absence.

She said, “Hello Dollywood! It’s me. I know — and I’m here, and you’re there. And you’re wondering why that is? Well, I had a little problem.”

“I had a kidney stone that was causing me a lot of problems,” she revealed. “Turned out it’d given me an infection, and the doctor said, ‘You don’t need to be traveling right this minute, so you need a few days to get better.'”

The following week, the singer took to Instagram to announce she had postponed several shows of her Las Vegas residency due to “health challenges.” She has since cancelled the rescheduled concerts.

Despite mounting worries from fans, Dolly assured she has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

“Don’t worry about me quittin’ the business because God hasn’t said anything about stopping yet,” she added. “But, I believe He is telling me to slow down right now so I can be ready for more big adventures with all of you. I love you and thank you for understanding.”