Dolly Parton, who turns 80 in January 2026, joked “I ain’t got time to get old” and also reflected on how she’s remembering her husband of nearly 60 years Carl Dean, who died in March.
Dolly Parton reassures fans after prayer request sparks concern
In a video, Dolly Parton said she’s doing fine and thanked fans for their concern after delaying concerts.
Dolly Parton “ain’t got time to get old.”
The music icon, who turns 80 in January, talked about soon becoming an octogenarian with her signature good-natured humor in a Nov. 12 excerpt from her upcoming cover story for People magazine.
“Everybody says, ‘Well, you’re going to be 80 years old.’ Well, so what?” she said in a sit-down interview. “Look at all I’ve done in 80 years. I feel like I’m just getting started.”
The “Jolene” songstress continued: “I know that sounds stupid, but 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.”
However, she admitted, “There is a celebration in the fact that I have done so much in that time and that I’m still doing it. I’m grateful for that.”
The interview took place two months before Parton announced she needed to postpone her Las Vegas concerts by nine months because “my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures.” She took to social media over a week later to assure fans that though she’s undergoing “a few treatments,” she’s still “working hard here.”
Dolly Parton: Carl Dean’s death was ‘the hardest loss’
Parton was more reflective as she opened up about losing her husband of nearly six decades, Carl Dean, in March and keeping his memory alive.
“Of course that’s the hardest loss that anyone could ever have – to lose the one you love the most,” she told People.
But her autobiographical stage production, “Dolly: A True Original Musical,” has helped Parton process her grief.
“When I watch the show, it’s healing in its way. It’s almost like he’s never gone. So now he’ll always be here, not just for me but in the minds of other people,” she said. “Just seeing all those points in my life and how that has affected me, it’s been healing in a way. But it’s made my appreciate my life and all the people more.”
She later added, “He will always be in my heart and in my memories.”
