Beyond ‘9 to 5’; things you may not know about country music legend Dolly Parton

From chart-topping songs and acting roles to Dollywood and Dolly’s Imagination Library, the country music icon, Dolly Parton created a legacy that spans entertainment, business and philanthropy.

But behind the familiar wigs, rhinestones and hits like ‘9 to 5’ are stories that even longtime fans may not know.

Here are 19 lesser-known facts about Parton, whose career and personality made her one of country music’s most recognizable figures.

She owned a theme park but never rode its rides

Dollywood, the Tennessee theme park inspired by Parton’s childhood fantasies, features roller coasters and water rides. Yet Parton has never ridden them.

“I don't ride the rides, I never have. I have a tendency to get motion sickness. Also, I'm a little bit chicken.” she told The New York Times in 2019.

Her concern was also practical. “With all my hair, I got so much to lose, like my wig or my shoes. I don't like to get messed up,” she said. “I'm gonna have some handsome man mess it up, I don't want some ride doing it.”

‘I Will Always Love You’ was not about a romance

One of Parton’s most famous songs was actually written about the end of a professional relationship. She had been working with her mentor Porter Wagoner when she decided to leave his television show and pursue her own career.

“There was a lot of grief and heartache there, and he just wasn't listening to my reasoning for my going. I thought, well, why don't you do what you do best? Why don't you just write this song?” Parton told CMT in 2011.

She wrote the song later that day and sang it to Wagoner the following day. He reportedly cried before telling her to go ahead with her plans, provided he could produce the record.

“When I finished, he said, 'Well, hell! If you feel that strong about it, just go on, providing I get to produce that record because that's the best song you ever wrote,'” Parton recalled in 2015.

Her father inspired Dolly’s Imagination Library

In 1995, Parton launched Dolly’s Imagination Library in Sevier County, Tennessee, inspired in part by her father’s illiteracy.

The program provides free books to children and has since distributed more than 120 million books worldwide.

“My daddy just loved it when all the little kids would call me 'The Book Lady.’ That meant more to him than the fact that I had become a star and worked my butt off.” Parton said.

‘Jolene’ had more than one real-life inspiration

The story behind ‘Jolene’ is not quite as dramatic as the song suggests. Parton said the idea was partly inspired by a bank teller who appeared interested in her husband, Carl Dean.

“It was kinda like a running joke between us, when I was saying, 'Hell, you're spending a lot of time at the bank. I don't believe we've got that kind of money,'” Parton told NPR in 2008. “So it's really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.”

The name ‘Jolene,’ meanwhile, came from a young red-haired, green-eyed fan Parton met at a concert.

“I said, 'Well, you're the prettiest little thing I ever saw. So what is your name?' And she said, 'Jolene,'” Parton recalled. “... I said, 'That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I'm going to write a song about that.'”

She is Miley Cyrus’ honorary godmother

Parton became close to Billy Ray Cyrus after he opened for some of her shows and appeared in her ‘Romeo’ video. He later asked Parton to be his daughter Miley Cyrus’ godmother.

“We never did do a big ceremony, but I'm so proud of her, love her, and she's just like one of my own,” Parton told Robin Roberts in 2009.

Parton later played Miley’s godmother on the Disney Channel series “Hannah Montana.”

Dolly Parton once lost a Dolly Parton lookalike contest

Even Parton’s famous appearance was not enough to win a contest dedicated to people who looked like her.

Speaking about her style, Parton once described herself as “flashy” and “flamboyant,” adding, “Had I not been a girl, I definitely would have been a drag queen.”

At a Halloween contest on Santa Monica Boulevard, she deliberately exaggerated her signature look and still lost.

“At a Halloween contest years ago on Santa Monica Boulevard, where all the guys were dressed up like me, and I just overexaggerated my look and went in and just walked up onstage … I didn't win. I didn't even come in close, I don't think.” she said.

She can play several instruments

Parton has played the dulcimer, banjo, guitar, piano, recorder and saxophone, among other instruments.

“My family's very musical, and everybody played musical instruments, so we just grabbed up anything and tried to play,” she told Vogue in 2016. “Like I said, I ain't all that good at it, but I can play enough to make a show!”

Her tattoos cover scars

In a 2020 interview with People, she explained that some of her tattoos were used to cover scars left after she was sick and underwent procedures including having a feeding tube.

“I do have some tattoos, that's true, but they're tasteful. I'm not a tattoo girl. My tattoos are pretty, they're artful, and they usually started out to cover some scar, not to make a big statement,” Parton said.

She has said she sleeps in her makeup

Parton’s beauty routine has long been part of her signature image, but she has admitted going to bed without removing her makeup.

“You never know if you're going to wreck the bus, you never know if you're going to be somewhere in a hotel and there's going to be a fire,” she told The New York Times in 2019. “So I leave my makeup on at night and clean my face in the morning.”

She turned down an offer for Elvis Presley to record her song

Before Whitney Houston’s version of ‘I Will Always Love You’ became a global hit through ‘The Bodyguard,’ Elvis Presley wanted to record the song.

But Parton said she walked away after learning that the arrangement would require her to give up at least 50% of the publishing royalties.

“I cried all night. I mean, it was like the worst thing. You know, it's like, 'Oh, my God … Elvis Presley,'” she recalled. “And other people were saying, 'You're nuts. It's Elvis Presley. I mean, hell, I'd give him all of it.'”

“I said, 'I can't do that. Something in my heart says, don't do that,'” she added.

Her birthday preference is pie, not cake

Parton prefers pie to the traditional birthday cake. Her favorite is chess pie, a rich Southern dessert made with ingredients including butter, sugar and eggs.

“I don't eat much cake. I usually have pie on my birthday,” Parton wrote in an email. “My favorite pie is chess pie.”

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She joked that she had a wig for every day of the year

Parton’s towering blonde hair has become almost as recognizable as her music. She has also amassed a large collection of wigs.

Asked about the number during a 2016 Vogue interview, she admitted she could not count them all.

“Oh, heavens, I have no idea. I can't really count them all,” she said. “I always make a joke and say, 'I wear one almost every day, so I must have at least 365!'”

She grew up with 11 siblings

Parton was raised in a small cabin in Sevierville, Tennessee, with her parents and 11 siblings, six brothers and five sisters. She was the fourth child.

“I've always loved being from where I am. I think my childhood made me everything I am today,” she told Entertainment Tonight in 2015. “I would trade nothing for being brought up in the Great Smoky Mountains.”

She holds multiple Guinness World Records

In 2018, Parton received two Guinness World Records for having a Top 20 hit on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart across six consecutive decades and for the most hits on the chart by a female artist at the time.

“To receive these two Guinness World Records is so great,” Parton said while accepting the honors. “Joining so many wonderful singers and songwriters who have been honored this way feels so special to me.”

She has also been the first country singer nominated for an EGOT.

Her first crush was Johnny Cash

As a teenager performing at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, Parton saw Johnny Cash and immediately noticed his appeal.

“I was sitting in the audience, and that's when I first knew about sex appeal,” she told Nightline in 2012. “He had this tick when he moved his shoulder … and it was still sexy. It still got to me.”

She once started her day at 3 am

Parton has spoken about being productive in the early hours. In 2018, she told the Today show that she would wake up early for meditation and spiritual work before checking her mail and making calls.

“I do more work between three and seven than most people all day, because it's quiet and the energy's all low-key, except mine,” she said. “I just love the wee hours.”

Her friendship with Judy Ogle spans decades

Parton’s longtime friendship with Judy Ogle dates back to childhood. The two grew up together, went to school together and remained close for more than six decades.

“Our ­parents knew each other, we grew up together, we were like ­sisters, became best friends,” Parton told The Sun in 2019. “She was very quiet, I was very outgoing. So we made perfect friends. We went all through school together.”

She once pulled a child actor out of the path of a vehicle

While filming Netflix’s ‘Christmas on the Square,’ Parton played an angel and according to her young co-star Talia Hill, she acted like one off camera too.

Hill said in a 2020 interview that she was nearly struck by a vehicle on set when Parton pulled her out of the way.

Parton reportedly told her, “Well, I am an angel, you know.”

“And I was in shock. She hugged me and shook me and said, 'I saved your life!'” Hill recalled. “And my mom was crying, like, 'Yes, you did, Dolly Parton. Yes, you did.'”

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Dolly the sheep was named after her

In 1996, scientists in Scotland created Dolly, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. The sheep was named after Parton because the cloned cell came from a mammary gland.

Sir Ian Wilmut, who led the scientific team, explained to the BBC, “Dolly is derived from a mammary gland cell, and we couldn't think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton's.”

Parton later said she was “flattered” by the name.

Raised in what she called a dirt-poor household, Parton became a rare figure who kept the affection of audiences across the political spectrum, a country girl turned global icon whose rhinestone-studded image never quite covered how ordinary her roots were.