Dolly Parton has shared a health update and cancelled her Las Vegas residency amid ongoing health issues.
In an Instagram reel, posted on Monday, Parton wrote in the caption, “Thank you for standing by me and showing me so much love and support over the past year. I’ve still got some healing to do, but I am on my way! See you soon.”
In the video shared to her Instagram page, Parton said, “I have some good news and a little bad news. But the good news is I’m responding really well to meds and treatments and I’m improving every day.”
“Now, the bad news is, it’s going to take me a little while before I’m up to stage-performance level, because some of the meds and treatments make me a little bit swimmy headed, as my grandma used to say. And of course, I can’t be dizzy carrying around banjos, guitars, and such on five inch heels, and you know that I’m going to be wearing them,” Parton said.
Parton told her fans to think of her as “an old classic car that once restored, can be better than ever.”
“But when they raised the hood on this old antique, they realized I need to rebuild my engine and that my transmission is slipping. My oil pan is leaking and my muffler’s busted, and my shocks and pistons need to be replaced. And for sure, my spark plugs need to be changed because you know as well as I know that I can’t lose my spark,” the 80-year-old singer said.
Parton said that she’s mentioned she had problems with kidney stones before.
“Lord, they dig more stones out of me a year than the rock quarry in Rockwood, Tennessee. But seriously, my immune system and my digestive system got all out of whack over the past couple of three years, and they’re working real hard on rebuilding and strengthening those. And hopefully I’ll be up to snuff again soon,” Parton added.
The Jolene singer noted that she knows she’s being “light and silly” adding, “They say that a happy heart is like good medicine.”
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“The truth is I am still working. I still do videos, I still record, I run up and down to Dollywood now and then. And I’m working hard on getting my museum and my hotel open in Nashville later this year,” she shared. “And I am spending a lot of time writing and reworking on my Broadway musical. It’s called DOLLY: A True Original Musical, and that’s going to be opening later in New York this fall or early winter.”
Parton said on a more serious note, she is “truly sorry that I’m going to miss all of you that had tickets to see me in Las Vegas.”
“But I just want you to know also, that a lot of you’ve been concerned about me and Carl, and you were so great about that,” she said of her late husband of nearly 60 years, who died last March at the age of 82.
“After going through a year of firsts, I mean the holidays, and especially our wedding anniversary, and the day of his death, March 3rd, you know, that was hard for me. But I will always love him, and I’ll always miss him. But you would be surprised at how much your love and concern meant to me during that time,” she said.
Parton went on to recall a joke she and her late husband shared.
“Speaking of Carl and my health, I remember back years ago, I was saying something, I was griping about something hurting, and Carl said, ‘Now, honey, you know you’ve got to remember you’re not getting any younger. I said, ‘Well, honey, you’ve got to remember that as long as there are plastic surgeons in this world, I’m not getting any older,’” she laughed.
“But anyway, of course, plastic surgeons can make you look as good as you can on the outside, but it’s serious business when you’re talking about internal medicine. But I have great doctors, and they assure me that everything is treatable,” she added.
“I will always love you,” Parton said, concluding her video.
Last November, Parton has shared a health update after missing the Hall of Fame ceremony for her theme park, Dollywood.
“Well, hey there, it’s Dolly,” Parton began. “And I sure wish I could be with you in person today, but you probably heard that I’ve been dealing with a few health challenges this fall, and my doctors told me to take it easy for just a little while.”
Parton said she was “truly sorry” she couldn’t be in attendance but she still wanted to take the chance to thank everyone for the “incredible honour,” including Jack and Peter Herschend, her partners who co-own the Dollywood theme park.
Earlier last year, Parton postponed her first Las Vegas residency in 32 years due to “health challenges.”
“As many of you know, I’ve been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures. As I joked with them, it must be time for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon!” she wrote in the announcement shared on Instagram.
Parton also told her fans that “lately everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am” in another health update shared in October.
“I’ve got some problems, as I’ve mentioned,” Parton said. “Back when my husband Carl was very sick — that was for a long time — and then when he passed, I didn’t take care of myself, so I let a lot of things go that I should have been taking care of. So anyway, when I got around to it, the doctor said, ‘We need to take care of this. We need to take care of that.’”
She noted that it’s “nothing major” but she did have to “cancel some things so I could be closer to home” and closer to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, “where I’m kind of having a few treatments here and there, but I wanted you to know that I’m not dying.”