Dolly Parton Explains Why She Turned Down a Super Bowl Halftime Show Appearance

Katy Perry was the featured halftime performer during Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, and the pop star was joined by Missy Elliot and Lenny Kravitz during her set. According to Perry, Dolly Parton would also have been on stage with her if she had had her way, but the country icon declined the invitation.

In a new interview with GQ for the magazine’s “Actually Me” series, Parton explained her reasoning behind the decision, sharing that she wanted to stay home because of her husband, Carl Dean’s, health. Going undercover on Twitter, Parton read a message from one fan who wrote that Perry had revealed Parton was her first choice to join her on stage during the Super Bowl but that Parton couldn’t participate. “How amazing would that have been?!” the fan wrote.

“That’s true, and I would have done it because I love Katy Perry,” Parton said. “But at the time, my husband was not doing good, he was kind of puny and I couldn’t leave him so I couldn’t do it. But one of these days, maybe we’ll do it again. I love her.”

The 74-year-old also reflected on her wedding to Dean, sharing that they renewed their vows four years ago after 50 years of marriage. “We didn’t get a chance to have that big old wedding that we wanted to,” she said. “I wanted that beautiful gown and all that. I had the money to do it this time, so we just kind of went all out. We did do it at home, close quarters and all, but we did get to wear that beautiful gown and he got to dress up in his beautiful suit. We made beautiful pictures and he bought me another wedding ring. I still have my originals, wouldn’t take nothing for those.

Other questions Parton answered included her first job, which was singing on a local radio show in Knoxville, Tennessee when she was 10 years old. She also reminisced on meeting Johnny Cash for the first time, which happened when Cash introduced Parton on the Grand Ole Opry when she was 13 years old. “We became good friends through the years, he and June as well,” she said, referencing June Carter Cash.

“But I don’t remember him encouraging me to follow my dreams or anything,” Parton noted. “I just remembered I was very encouraged by him that I got to meet him because I thought he was so handsome, so sexy. That’s the first time I really felt like a woman, when I was around him. He kind of stirred all that stuff in me and we always laughed about that.”