Dolly Parton's sister Stella Parton has said that no one in Nashville has offered her condolences in the weeks since the country music icon died at age 80. Dolly passed away on August 25 following a brief battle with an undisclosed cancer.
Stella, 77, spoke to Gayle King in a wide-ranging interview on CBS Mornings, shared on Thursday, in which she said the music community in Tennessee has been silent as she mourns her sister.
"I haven't heard from anybody in Nashville since my sister passed away," she said. "I haven't had one condolence from anyone, anybody that I know, entertainers that I know. Nobody. Not one."
Stella suggested the silence might be connected to her own outspoken views. "I'm assuming it might be because of my political, you know, activism on social media. I don't know," she said.
Dolly, by contrast, was famously private about her political opinions throughout her career.
Stella, who is also a singer, said her sister certainly had opinions of her own but "would never have offended anyone."
"She never would have done that. She was smarter than me. You know, I tell everything. And I like everybody knowing what I think about it. Not her!" Stella said.
She added that Dolly kept her political views to herself because "she's a good businesswoman."
Dolly's private moments without makeup
Elsewhere in the interview, Stella revealed that she never saw her superstar sister without makeup once Dolly had become famous.
"Not after she got to be 'Dolly Parton.' No, she would sleep in her makeup when she would come spend the night with me," Stella said.
When King asked whether she had ever seen Dolly without her glammed-up look, Stella said: "Oh, I knew what she looked like, of course! Because she looked like me without her makeup, so I knew what she looked like without it."
Throughout the interview, Stella spoke about her close bond with Dolly and their tight-knit family.
Dolly Parton's family and career
Dolly, an 11-time Grammy winner, was one of 12 brothers and sisters who grew up in the mountains of Tennessee. She built one of the most successful careers in country music, known for songs including "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You."
Once she achieved superstardom, Dolly spoke openly about always presenting herself in a glamorous way. In a 1994 interview with David Letterman, she said: "If I'm going to go out in public, I think the people expect to see me look like a star; I expect to look like a star." She said the exceptions were trips to the lake house or time spent with her husband, Carl, who died in 2025.
In a 2014 interview with Wendy Williams, Dolly said she would never answer the door at home "without makeup or hair." She explained that she spent a lot of time in California, where earthquakes are a risk, adding: "I never take my makeup off at night, 'cause I thought, if I have to run out in the streets I have to look good 'cause you know there's gonna be cameras everywhere."
