Breaking: Dolly Parton Dies at Age 80, Four Days After Health Update
Country music legend, actress, and philanthropist Dolly Parton passed away at the age of 80 on Tuesday, according to a video announcement from her nephew.
“My name is Bryan Seaver, son of Cassie Parton. And I’m representing the Parton and Owens family today announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean. Sister, Sis, Aunt Granny to one generation, and Gigi to the next,” he said during an Instagram video post.
“This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality,” Seaver continued. “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.”
He called it an “honor” to deliver the news, but said her passing left family members with “great sadness.” Seaver added, however, that Dolly is now “in the light” with Jesus Christ in heaven.
Parton’s death came just several months after she cancelled a Las Vegas show in May 2026, when she revealed that she’d been undergoing treatment for kidney stones over the past several years, NBC News reported.
“Lord, they dig more stones out of me a year than the rock quarry in Rockwood, Tennessee,” Parton said in a previous statement. “But seriously, my immune system and my digestive system got all out of whack over the past couple three years, and they’re working real hard on rebuilding and strengthening those, and hopefully I’ll be up to snuff again soon.”
In addition to her singing career, Parton was known for her roles in films like “9 to 5,” for which she wrote and sang the Academy Award-nominated theme song, and “Steel Magnolias.”
She sold over 100 million records and won 11 Grammy Awards, making her one of the top-selling performers of all time during a career that spanned more than 60 years.
Parton was also an accomplished author. She published the autobiography “Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business,” which was a bestseller in the United States, and later wrote with best-selling author James Patterson, “Run, Rose, Run,” a thriller about a young country music singer who has a mysterious background.
She’s also been cited for her contributions to the arts and culture world, which earned her various awards and honors outside of Hollywood.
Parton was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress in 2004, “for her enrichment of the American cultural heritage.” In 2005 she received the U.S. government’s National Medal of Arts, and in 2006, she was honored at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., for a lifetime of artistic achievement.
WXIN-TV called her a successful businesswoman and a “generous phlilanthropist.”
“She started her education nonprofit, Imagination Library, to send free books to children in Tennessee because her father, who quit school to work on the farm, struggled to learn to read. When a deadly wildfire swept through the Smokies in 2016, she held an all-star telethon and set up a foundation that sent monthly checks to residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed,” the outlet reported.
Her death came just days after she shared a health update on Friday, highlighting recent medical issues since the passing of her husband Carl Dean in March 2025.
“As I’ve shared in video messages throughout the past year, I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” Parton told PEOPLE magazine. “You know, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to manage something like this. Back in the early ’80s, I was down for several months with female issues, and I was struggling with my weight at the time too, so it’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health.”
She added, “But I think because we live in a 24/7 world with social media, everything gets magnified in ways it wasn’t years ago. I used to joke that I was the Queen of the Tabloids, but now I guess I can say I’m the Queen of Social Media AI! Seriously, though, even though I’m still healin’, I’m still workin’! You know me — as I’ve often said — I’ve dreamed myself into a corner and I still have so many things I want to achieve, so I’m gonna keep on working as long as I can to see everything come to life.”
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