Legendary singer-songwriter and country music icon Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80.

Parton frequently collaborated with younger artists, . She was also the godmother of.For the singer  “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life,” maintaining her personal life was very important.

“I’ve told her some things that I think are valuable and that she uses, but I’d rather live [as] an example,” Parton of her relationship with Cyrus. “[I’d rather] be an example rather than just try to tell somebody to do this, do that because I don’t think that’s right. Everybody’s different.”

She owned the located in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. She was also heavily involved in philanthropy, most notably her Imagination Library, which mails one book a month to children from birth until kindergarten. She was inspired in part by her father, who never learned to read or write.

Parton married . Dean opted to stay out of the spotlight but encouraged his wife. “He’s always supporting me as long as I don’t try to drag him in on it,” Parton  “He’s always been my biggest fan behind the scenes, but he’s at home. I don’t think they’re probably showing much of this on TV, and if they do, he might see it.”

“I always joke and laugh when people ask me what’s the key to my long marriage and lasting love,” Parton told  in 2018. “I always say ‘Stay gone!’ and there’s a lot of truth to that. I travel a lot, but we really enjoy each other when we’re together and the little things we do.”

Dean died on March 3, 2025. Parton announced his death on Instagram writing, “Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years.”

Days after his death, Parton paid tribute to her late husband with a song titled

“Carl and I fell in love when I was 18 and he was 23, and like all great love stories, they never end,” she wrote on Instagram announcing the song alongside a rare throwback photo of the couple.

Parton reflected on their love story and her grief in a November 2025 PEOPLE cover story.

“Ours is a great old love story. Most people don’t stay that close that long,” Parton said of Dean at the time. “That’s a loss. Nobody can ever know that unless you’ve experienced it yourself. He will always be in my heart and in my memories.”

Parton was set to return to Las Vegas in December 2025 for a residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace — her first extended run in the city in more than 30 years — but in September of that year, she announced that the dates had been postponed due to “health challenges.”

“As many of you know, I’ve been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures. As I joked with them, it must be time for my 100,000 check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon!,” she said in a statement shared to Instagram. “In all seriousness, given this, I am not going to be able to rehearse and put together the show that I want you to see, and the show that you deserve to see. You pay good money to see me perform, and I want to be at my best for you.”

Despite the setback, Parton reassured her fans at the time writing, “And don’t worry about me quittin’ the business because God hasn’t said anything about stopping yet. But, I believe He is telling me to slow down right now so I can be ready for more big adventures with all of you.”

She later in May 2026, saying in an Instagram video that she was “responding really well to meds and treatments” and “improving every day.”

Years prior, Parton told PEOPLE that even after decades in the industry there were still dreams she had left to fulfill.

“I just hope I live long enough to do more things,” she said. “That’s the only thing that worries me, that I may run out of time before I see so many of my dreams come true. I wake up with new dreams all the time. But I put them in a place where they can continue, even after I’m gone.”

In a November 2025 cover story, Parton opened up to PEOPLE about her then-upcoming 80th birthday.

“People say, ‘Well, you’re going to be 80 years old.’ Well, so what? Look at all I’ve done in 80 years. I feel like I’m just getting started,” she says. “I know that sounds stupid, but unless my health gives way, which right now I seem to be doing fine . . . I think there’s a lot to be said about age. If you allow yourself to get old, you will. I say, ‘I ain’t got time to get old!’ I ain’t got time to dwell on that. That’s not what I’m thinking about.”

She also reflected on her impact and intentions in the industry. “I’m at that point in my life where I just want to be able to do good things that can be carried on. I’m proud of my legacy so far, and I hope to just continue to do things that might be of use to other people,” Parton told PEOPLE at the time.

“You know, I have just been going so fast my whole life,” Parton added in the same interview. “And I just start thinking, ‘How in the world did I even have a life? How did I even get it done?’ I really realized when I was putting this book together just how much I had sacrificed in my life. I never had children, so at least I didn’t have a guilty feeling. I’m thankful that I got to see my dreams come true.”

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