Dolly Parton posted a two-minute video titled “I ain’t dead yet!” Wednesday afternoon, an attempt to knock down rumors that the 79-year-old country legend is seriously ill.
“Well today’s October the 8th and obviously I’m here,” Parton chirped, seated in front of a green screen in full wardrobe and makeup for what she said was a Grand Ole Opry commercial shoot.
The singer, who prompted widespread concern among her fans late last month when she delayed a series of concerts over “health challenges,” opened up in the video about her grief over the recent death of her longtime husband, Carl Dean.
“When he passed, I didn’t take care of myself. So I let a lot of things go that I should have been taking care of,” she said. “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 to be closer to home.”
In the clip, she also joked about an artificial intelligence-generated photo floating around of country star Reba McEntire at Dolly’s “deathbed”: “Whew lordy!” Dolly said, adding that they “both looked like we need to be buried.”
Parton’s sister Freida Parton had inadvertently caused panic on Tuesday when she asked fans to pray. “I was up all night praying for my sister, Dolly. Many of you know she hasn’t been feeling her best lately,” she wrote on Facebook, adding, “With all the prayers being lifted for her, I know in my heart she’s going to be just fine.”
Freida later said she “didn’t mean to scare anyone.” Her sister has been “a little under the weather, and I simply asked for prayers because I believe so strongly in the power of prayer,” she said. “It was nothing more than a little sister asking for prayers for her big sister.”
Last month, Parton also withdrew from an attraction announcement at Dollywood, her amusement park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, because of an infection related to a kidney stone.
