Dolly Parton on Her Lengthy Career: ‘I’m Comfortable With Who I Am’

Dolly Parton has enjoyed more than 50 years in country music, making her one of the most successful artists of all time. But the secret to her success, Parton says, has far less to do with business decisions, and much more to do with how she lives her life.

“I am really comfortable with who I am,” Parton told her good friend and collaborator, Linda Perry, at the opening of the Dolly Parton exhibit at the Grammy Museum via Billboard. “Of course I hurt. I have to keep my sensitive side alive. I can’t harden my heart, because then I couldn’t write the way I write. I couldn’t relate to people the way I do.

“I don’t harden my heart, but I strengthen the muscles around it because you have to in this business,” Parton added. “People are always saying, ‘Dolly why do you look so happy?’ I say, ‘That’s the Botox.’”

Parton knows she likely had some missteps along the way, and made some decisions that in hindsight weren’t the best for her, personally or professionally. But the 73-year-old insists she wouldn’t change anything.

“I really think that if you change one thing, it would change everything,” Parton reflected. “Everything I’ve ever done, even if it looked like a mistake to somebody else and even if I paid the price for it as a mistake, it seemed like the thing I was supposed to do at the time. So I can’t say I would honestly do it any different.”

Still, there is one memory that still stings a little, even though it taught her a powerful lesson.

“Years ago I did a variety show and it wasn’t what I wanted it to be and I wasn’t able to be my own self in it. There were too many other people involved,” Parton said, recalling her short-lived Dolly! show, which ran for only one season, launching in 1976. “It just was not good and I was not happy doing it. But I didn’t dwell on that.”

Parton will be named the MusiCares Person of the Year with a star-studded ceremony on Friday, Feb. 8, Artists including Chris Stapleton, Leon Bridges, Lauren Daigle, Norah Jones, Shawn Mendes, P!nk, Mark Ronson, Vince Gill, Don Henley, Kacey Musgraves, Willie Nelson, Mavis Staples, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.

Parton will also be honored during the Grammy Awards ceremony, with a tribute performance by Little Big Town, Perry, Morris and Musgraves, with Parton also expected to take the stage.

The 2019 Grammy Awards will air live from Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 10, at 8:00 p.m. on CBS.

Photo Credit: Getty Images / Tibrina Hobson