Dolly Parton, Country Music Legend, Actor, and Humanitarian, Dies at 80

• Country music legend Dolly Parton has died at age 80, her family announced on August 25.
• The singer-songwriter’s career spanned several decades and earned her many accolades.
• Her legacy included 11 Grammy wins, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, roles in feature films, and a musical inspired by her life.
• She was preceded in death by Carl Thomas Dean, with whom she was married for nearly 60 years, who died in March 2025.

Dolly Parton, the queen of country music, has died at the age of 80.

The singer-songwriter’s illustrious career spanned several decades and included 10 Grammys, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and roles in feature films like “Steel Magnolias” and in “Dolly: A True Original Musical,” which was reportedly set to open in the coming months.

Parton’s legacy also includes a 165-acre theme park, Dollywood, near the Great Smoky Mountains, and a children’s book club, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

Her health had recently been in decline following the death of her husband of 60 years, Carl Thomas Dean, in March 2025.

Parton’s cause of death had not yet been announced, but the news of her passing was shared by her nephew Bryan Seaver in an Instagram video on August 25.

“My name is Bryan Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I’m representing the Parton and Owens family today announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean, Sister, Sis and Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next,” he said in the video.

“This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality. 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. 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 to meet her in the heavens.”

Seaver said in the post that Parton had told him she wanted to “rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life of wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest.”

“Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly — Aunt, Granny, Gigi. May God bless Dolly Parton, and may God bless you all. She will always love you,” Seaver said.

Parton had shared an update with fans just a few days prior, and acknowledged her health had been declining after the death of her husband.

“As I’ve shared in video messages throughout the past year, I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl. You know, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to manage something like this. Back in the early ’80s, I was down for several months with female issues, and I was struggling with my weight at the time too, so it’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health,” Parton told PEOPLE.

Parton shared ‘a little bad news’ about her health

Dolly Parton shared “some good news, and a little bad news,” about her health in an Instagram reel posted across her various social media accounts on May 4.

“The good news is, I’m responding really well to meds and treatments, and I’m improving every day,” the country music icon said.

Parton didn’t specify exactly what she’s being treated for, but she noted that she’s “always had problems with my kidney stones,” joking that “they dig more stones out of me a year than the rock quarry in Rockwood, Tennessee.”

She said that her immune and digestive systems “got all out of whack over the past three years,” and that her care team is “working real hard on rebuilding and strengthening those.”

She also apologized to fans for needing to cancel her previously postponed Las Vegas shows “because some of the meds and treatments make me a little bit swimmy-headed … and of course, I can’t be dizzy carrying around banjos, guitars and such on five-inch heels.”

The update came just eight months after Parton originally announced on Instagram that she needed to postpone her Las Vegas concerts due to “health challenges” she was facing that would require “a few procedures.”

Parton said that she’s “working hard on getting my museum and my hotel open in Nashville later this year,” as well as “spending a lot of time writing and reworking” her upcoming Broadway musical.

Parton thanked fans for support after husband’s death

Parton also thanked fans for the outpouring of love and support she received following the death of her husband, Carl Dean.

Dean, who married Parton in 1966 and largely stayed out of the public spotlight throughout their decades-long marriage, passed away on March 3, 2025, at the age of 82.

“A lot of you’ve been concerned about me and Carl, and you were so great about that,” she said in the video. “I will always love him, and I will always miss him, but you would be surprised at how much your love and concern meant to me during that time.”

“From the bottom of my heart, I thank you,” she continued. “You have been a big part of my healing.”