Behind the rhinestone heels, false eyelashes, iconic blonde wig and acrylic nails, there’s another Dolly Parton. The artist has often been reduced to her image as a bimbo and country icon, particularly popular in conservative American circles. But the singer, who died on Tuesday August 27 at the age of 80, devoted a large part of her life and her fortune to defending humanist causes and supporting the most vulnerable, in particular children from poor families and LGBT+ people.
Behind her extravagant appearance hid a woman with a biting sense of humor, adept at self-deprecation and assumed irony. She had been playing it since the start of her career, particularly in her songs.
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His first big success, in 1967, is an example of this. Ironically titled “Dumb Blonde”, the song is about a man who calls a woman a stupid blonde. “This blonde doesn’t let anyone fool her,” sings Dolly Parton, overturning the clichés. She was often the target of low-level remarks about her physique. A message that resonated all the more in America in the 1960s, when the Women’s Liberation Movement was emerging.
A feminist in her own way
The singer of “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” is also the one who, alongside Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette, helped revolutionize the world of country music for women and pave the way for a new generation of artists.
Although she did not use the term “feminism”, much of Dolly Parton’s career, and her songwriting, has been considered a form of feminism.
His 1968 title, “Just Because I’m a Woman”, is an illustration of this. In her soft soprano voice, carried by her very particular vibrato, she reminds her partner that he does not have to judge her because she had sexual relations before him, since he himself has known other women. “My mistakes aren’t any worse than yours,” she sings, “just because I’m a woman.”
Same observation with “Down from Dover”, released in 1970. A heartbreaking piece about a pregnant teenager abandoned by her family and by the father of her child. She gives birth to a stillborn baby alone, without any medical treatment. A song that Dolly Parton regretted seeing so little played on the radio, and whose tragic story still resonates today.
An ally of the LGBT+
Immensely popular in the most conservative circles, Dolly Parton was also popular with LGBT+ people. On several occasions, the country legend came to their defense, including participating in a drag queen competition.
Dolly Parton fans gather at Harvey Milk Plaza in San Francisco on August 25, 2026. © Dan Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, AP
“We are supposed to love each other for who we are and what we are,” she told CNN. Adding in another interview: “People are what they are and I’m not God, I’m not a judge.”
In 1991, the diva titled a song “Family”, in which she supported the gay community, then stigmatized by the AIDS epidemic.
Her songs and declarations have had a liberating role for many LGBT+ people, in particular for young homosexuals from traditionalist families in the Deep South, the “deep South” of the United States, where she was from.
What Dolly Parton said about herself was not trivial. For Nadine Hubbs, author of the book “Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music” and professor at the University of Michigan, this faith in love of neighbor was forged by the religious education of the singer, whose grandfather was a Pentecostal pastor.
This background also provided her with the references to help the Deep South hear her message, believes the researcher. “Dolly showed that it was possible not only to love and accept others and oneself, but also to do so in a deeply Christian framework,” she told AFP.
A fortune put at the service of the most vulnerable
The fourth of twelve siblings, from a poor family in rural Sevier County, in eastern Tennessee, the multimillionaire star never forgot where she came from. One of its priorities was to promote the academic success of children born into poverty.
With the same determination that she showed on stage, Dolly Parton worked to devote part of her fortune to serving the common good.
In 1988, she created the “Dollywood Foundation”, initially intended to combat high school dropouts. In the early 1990s, his “Buddy” program matched middle school students in Sevier County and gave them $500 if they completed high school. In 2000, she launched a college scholarship awarding $15,000 to five high school students in her home county.
There was also a more discreet generosity, which the public continued to discover during his last years. After investigating online, fans discovered that she had long funded the marching band uniforms of many Tennessee high schools. She purchased a shopping center in Nashville with the royalties from her song “I Will Always Love You”, in order to support the surrounding black neighborhood.
In 2016, when wildfires ravaged the Great Smoky Mountains, his native region, his foundation paid $1,000 per month for six months to families who lost their homes for a total amount of $9 million.
In 2020, the singer decided to donate one million dollars to Covid-19 research conducted at Vanderbilt University, thus contributing to the financing of Moderna’s vaccine.
A star who never forgot her humble origins
But the best known of its initiatives remains the Imagination Library, founded in 1995. Dolly Parton’s father was illiterate and this inspired her to create an organization providing books to people who could not afford them. Through this initiative, children in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia have received more than 330 million books.
Interviewed by AP, Fran DeWine, the wife of the Republican governor of Ohio, where more than a million children have received these books, described Parton’s “dedication to children and literacy” as “second to none.” “His generosity and selfless spirit leave a legacy that will endure for generations,” she said.
After her death, Dolly Parton’s family asked those wishing to pay their respects to make donations to the Imagination Library rather than sending flowers.
An icon above political divisions
An artist adored by Americans, she has always wanted to remain apolitical. She was refused the Presidential Medal of Freedom three times, twice from President Donald Trump and once from President Joe Biden.
This desire to stay aloof from political divides helped make her a unique figure in a deeply divided America. Sixty years after her first success, the artist has been able throughout her career to be loved by both conservative and progressive circles, without ever letting herself be confined by a political camp.
With AFP and AP
