Dolly Parton has died, family announces: ‘She will always love you’

(NEXSTAR) – Dolly Parton has died, her family has announced. She was 80 years old.

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The beloved country music icon died peacefully in Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday, her publicist said in a statement obtained by Nexstar.

Her death was confirmed to fans via a video posted to her social media accounts on Tuesday.

“This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality,” Bryan Seaver, Parton’s nephew, said in the video. “As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it until now.”

“It is an honor. An honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness,” he continued. “But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly. Dolly has lived in the light, and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens.”

Parton was admitted to a Nashville hospital on Friday, People and TMZ reported on Tuesday.

Almost immediately after news of Parton’s death was made public, reactions began pouring in from fans and friends.

“So many evil people in this world and we had to lose a pure heart like Dolly Parton,” Miley Cyrus, Parton’s goddaughter, wrote in a post to X on Tuesday. “Devastating day for humanity.”

In a post to Truth Social, President Trump called for flags throughout the U.S. to be lowered to half-staff for a week, starting at 6 p.m.

“This is a true loss for millions of people. There has never been anyone like her, and never will,” Trump wrote. “Rest in Peace, Dolly! The World loves you.”

‘I’ve had a few little health issues’

While her family did not provide a cause of death, the global icon had previously disclosed health concerns.

Earlier this month, Parton skipped the opening of a new ride at her theme park, Dollywood, telling fans in a video that her doctor had advised her not to travel.

“I’ve told you before, all my fans, that I’ve had a few little health issues, and sometimes I get a little dizzy and I get dehydrated,” she explained in the video.

Parton’s health issues also caused her to cancel a planned Las Vegas residency. At the time, she said she was responding well to medication. Last fall, her sister, Freida Parton, called for prayers for Dolly, saying she had not “been feeling her best.”

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Days later, Dolly Parton would post a video telling her followers she “ain’t dead yet!” She explained she had had “some problems” and had not been taking care of herself after her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, died in March 2025.

“I wanted you to know that I’m not dying,” Parton said in the October 2025 post. “I’m not ready to die yet. I don’t think God is through with me, and I ain’t done working. So, I love you for caring and keep praying for me.”

Freida later told Nexstar’s WJHL that she didn’t mean to alarm anyone, but was inspired to call for prayers because “Mama told us to pray.”

From humbling beginnings to the hearts of many

Parton was born in East Tennessee on January 18, 1946, becoming one of 12 children born to Avie Lee Caroline Owens and Robert Lee Parton, Sr., Nexstar’s WATE reports. She would record the first of what would become many songs, “Puppy Love,” at the age of 11. By the time Parton had turned 13, she was performing at the Grand Ole Opry.

She wrote hundreds of songs, including classics like “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You,” that totaled more than 100 million worldwide sales and more than 1 billion online streams. By the mid-1970s, she was a Nashville queen.

Parton, who plucked bejeweled banjos, guitars and dulcimers with her long fingernails during performances, was a generous philanthropist and successful businesswoman whose projects included a theme park in the Smoky Mountain foothills near her birthplace.

She started her education nonprofit, Imagination Library, to send free books to children in Tennessee because her father, who quit school to work on the farm, struggled to learn to read. When a deadly wildfire swept through the Smokies in 2016, she held an all-star telethon and set up a foundation that sent monthly checks to residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed.

She wrote books and memoirs, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and was given a lifetime achievement award by the Recording Academy. She was selected for the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2025.

With 55 Grammy nominations and 10 wins, Parton is the third-most nominated woman in Grammy history, only behind Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.

Parton is preceded in death by her mother and her father, as well as several of her siblings. Earlier this year, Parton’s brother, Coy “Denver” Parton, died at the age of 82. He was the fifth of Parton’s siblings to have died, following brothers Larry, David, Randy, and Floyd.

According to a statement from her team, Parton’s immediate family will have “a small, private service.”

Her friends and family “are encouraged to pay tribute to Dolly on social media” by tagging her in posts or by leaving a message on her website. In lieu of flowers, Parton’s family asks for donations to be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

“Dolly opened doors, not just for me, but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible,” Seaver said in Tuesday’s video. “May God bless Dolly Parton, and may God bless you all. She will always love you.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.