BEYOND BELIEF
THE SINGER OPENS UP ON HER STEELY FAITH AND DARKEST DAYS
How Dolly’s marriage survived
Even though Dolly Parton’s beloved Smoky Mountains were devastated by deadly wildfires in 2016, she knew the “mountain strong” people affected by the natural disaster would rise again.
“Everybody’s got that spiritual background,” she says of the locals who live in the same area where she spent her humble early years. “I think that good neighbours and faith and trust in God − and in one another − help everyone pull together as a team. You’ve got to pull together as a community, as a family. That’s the only way you can keep going.”
Her strong faith is what has helped the country legend
(72) get through some of the toughest struggles of her life.
“I hurt like everybody else. I’m not always happy,” admits Dolly. She’s faced several hurdles and heartaches throughout the years, including a family tragedy when she was growing up in the poverty-stricken Appalachian hills, a career-halting medical condition in the ’80s and a marriage crisis with husband
Carl Dean (76) that made her consider taking her own life.
“A belief in God is essential,” Dolly adds of how her daily prayers and trust in God have helped her through every crisis.
Finding her way
Dolly, the fourth of Robert and Avie Parton’s 12 children, was surrounded by religion from an early age.
“Our grandparents were Christians and our granddad was a minister. A healer, actually,” sister Stella Parton (69) tells.
Stella, who is also a country singer-songwriter, says that she, Dolly and the rest of their siblings still cherish their spiritual upbringing. “It shaped Dolly into who she is today, inside and out,” Stella insists.
“Growing up with very little except our family connection and God meant everything.
Our faith is the most important thing to all of us. It was the key to our survival.”
The family shared a oneroom shack in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, before later moving to a small house. Times were lean, with tragedy striking early when Dolly’s brother Larry, who was born when she was nine, died just four days after birth. Shaken by the loss, young Dolly eventually found comfort in an abandoned chapel near her home that had a dilapidated piano inside. There, her love of music blossomed and she wrote songs on a makeshift instrument she created from some of the piano’s old strings.
“The joy and the truth I found there is with me to this day,” she says. “I had found a divine power. I had found Dolly Parton. And I loved them both.”
Her deep faith has helped Dolly through her darkest days, including a period in 1982 when pain from severe abdominal bleeding forced her to seek medical attention and cancel a tour. By 1984, she had undergone a partial hysterectomy and was told she’d never be able to have children with Carl.
“It was a really bad time,” she admits of sinking into a twoyear depression and being forced to scale back her professional commitments.
“Sometimes God just has to smack you down,” she says. “He was almost saying, ‘Sit your pretty little butt down because we have to deal with some stuff!’”
Facing her demons
Around that time, Dolly was also wrestling with guilt over an emotional affair she had during her marriage to Carl, whom she wed in 1966. Surviving that trial meant Dolly and Carl were able to celebrate their 52nd anniversary earlier this year.
Though Dolly’s fame prevents her from attending services at a public church, the couple have built their own little chapel on the grounds of their farm.
“She not only prays there, but she often goes there to write spiritual songs,” a friend tells. “Carl goes as well and it’s their
quiet place to reflect, pray and give thanks.”
The duo have spent quite a bit of time apart during Dolly’s high-profile and frenetic career, as the reclusive Carl chooses to stay out of the limelight. “But Dolly’s in her seventies now and she has different priorities,” her friend says. “She’s been home a lot these past nine months, and she and Carl have spent most of the year together. It seems to be their new norm.”
What hasn’t changed is their love for one another. “There’s still a lot of passion between them,” the friend promises.
“Dolly still enjoys cooking for Carl and he still writes her love poems. Despite all their ups and downs, they both consider their relationship a match made in heaven.”
And Dolly is more confident than ever in her marriage. “She always lets God’s hand guide her through life,” another pal says, “and she’s always come to the realisation that God believes her place is with Carl.”
After all, as Dolly quips with her trademark wit, “We know each other so well. I know every line in Carl’s face and he knows every hair in my wig!”