Celebrity

Dolly Parton Addresses Concerns for Her Health in New Video: ‘I Ain’t Dead Yet!’

“Do I look sick to you? I’m working hard here!” Parton said. 

dolly-parton-getty-images-nbc.jpg
(Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images)

Dolly Parton assured fans she “ain’t dead yet” amid concerns for her health.

A day after Dolly’s younger sister, Freida Parton, wrote on social media that she had been “up all night praying” for the country icon, the “Jolene” singer shared a new video updating fans on her recent health issues.

Videos by PopCulture.com

The country icon, 79, began her video by revealing that she was on set doing commercials for the Grand Ole Opry, and that “lately everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am.”

“Do I look sick to you? I’m working hard here!” she went on. “Anyway, I wanted to put everybody’s mind at ease, those of you that seem to be real concerned, which I appreciate.” Dolly added, “I appreciate your prayers, ’cause I’m a person of faith. I can always use the prayers for anything and everything. But I want you to know that I’m OK.”

The Grammy winner explained that some of her health “problems” can be traced back to the days surrounding the passing of her husband of 58 years, Carl Dean, who died on March 3 at the age of 82.

“Back when my husband Carl was very sick, that was for a long time, and then when he passed, I didnโ€™t take care of myself, so I let a lot of things go that I shouldโ€™ve been taking care of,” Dolly revealed. “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. Nothing major, but I did have to cancel some things so I could be closer to home, closer to Vanderbilt, where Iโ€™m kind of having a few treatments here and there, but I wanted you to know that Iโ€™m not dying.”

“There’s just a lot of rumors flying around, but I figured if you heard it from me, you’d know that I was OK,” she continued. “So anyhow, thatโ€™s what I wanted to say, and Iโ€™m not ready to die yet. I donโ€™t think God is through with m,e and I ainโ€™t done working. So I love you for caring, and keep praying for me.”

dolly-parton-getty-images.png
(Kevin Winter/Getty Images for ACM)

After Dolly announced last week that she would have to postpone her Las Vegas residency due to health reasons, Freida sparked concern among her sister’s fans by asking for prayers for her health.

โ€œLast night, I was up all night praying for my sister, Dolly,” she wrote on Facebook Tuesday. “Many of you know she hasnโ€™t been feeling her best lately. I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I have been lead to ask all of the world that loves her to be prayer warriors and pray with me.โ€

Freida continued, โ€œSheโ€™s strong, sheโ€™s loved, and with all the prayers being lifted for her, I know in my heart sheโ€™s going to be just fine. Godspeed, my sissy Dolly. We all love you!โ€

Soon after her first post, Freida returned with a clarifying statement, saying, โ€œI didnโ€™t mean to scare anyone or make it sound so serious when asking for prayers for Dolly.โ€

She went on to explain that while her sister had been โ€œa little under the weather,โ€ she โ€œsimply asked for prayersโ€ because she believes โ€œso strongly in the power of prayer.โ€ Freida assured, โ€œIt was nothing more than a little sister asking for prayers for her big sister.โ€