• Dolly Parton gave her fans an update on her health at the March 13 opening day of her Dollywood theme park.
  • The country icon confirmed that her health is in a good place, and that she needed some time away to process losing her husband, Carl Dean, last year.
  • Dolly also noted that she is currently single and likely has no plans to date in the future.

Last year, fans speculated that Dolly Parton might have been having health issues after her sister, Freida Parton, shared a cryptic Facebook post that asked the her fans to “pray” for her. Now, the country icon is giving fans an update on her health, and openly admitted that she did have some underlying health issues in conjunction with her grieving the loss of her husband, Carl Dean.

“I’ve not been touring, as you know,” Dolly said on March 13, Dollywood’s opening day, in a video shared by WVLT 8. “I’ve had a few little health issues, and we’re taking good care of them.” (As a reminder, Dolly did share that she had some kidney stones back in September that needed to be cleared up.)

“I just kind of got worn down and worn out, grieving over Carl and a lot of other little things going on,” she added; her husband passed on March 3, 2025. “I just got myself kind of where I needed to build myself back up spiritually, emotionally, and physically. But, all is good. It didn’t slow me down.”

And in true Dolly spirit, she joked that she hasn’t been dating anyone new after her husband’s passing—she said that fans shouldn’t mistake Dollywood Company President Eugene Naughton, as her “new husband” and confirmed that she is “not dating anybody” in light of her husband’s passing.

“I think Carl Dean’s waiting for me,” Dolly noted. “If I should show up at the pearly gates with somebody else, he would not like that. He’d be saying, ‘Who’s that little pisser? You leave him outside the gates.’”

Dolly also confirmed that she was in good health back in October. “I know lately, everyone thinks I’m sicker than I am. Do I look sick to you? I’m working hard here,” she joked between takes for the Grand Ole Opry in Tennessee, as seen in an october 8 Instagram video.

“I want you to know I’m okay. I’ve got some problems as I mentioned, back when my husband Carl was very sick...when he passed, I let a lot of things go that I should have been taking care of,” she added at the time. And for good measure, she wrote “I ain’t dead yet!” in the video’s caption.

In conclusion: We love you, Dolly.