Dolly Parton’s ongoing health issues forced her to skip a recent ceremony inducting her into the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions’ Hall of Fame.
The country music legend, 79, who co-owns the Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, explained in a video the park posted Nov. 19 on Instagram that her doctors advised her not to attend the event, which was held Nov. 17 in Orlando.
“I sure wish I could be with you in person today, but you probably heard that I’ve been dealing with a few health challenges this fall, and my doctors told me to take it easy for just a little while,” Parton said in the video. “I’m truly sorry I can’t be there, but I sure wanted to take the chance to say thank you for this incredible honor.”
Parton’s video comes one day after she missed the 16th annual Academy Governors Awards, where she was awarded an honorary Oscar.
The “Jolene” singer’s condition has made headlines since she postponed a series of performances in Las Vegas in September due to “health challenges.”
Parton did not specify at the time what health challenges she faced but said, “my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures.”
“As I joked with them, it must be time for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon!” she quipped.
Parton was forced to address her health again in an Oct. 8 video a day after her younger sister Freida Parton asked the musician’s fans to pray for her in a Facebook post.
“I know lately everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am,” Dolly Parton said in her video, “Do I look sick to you? I’m working hard here!”
Parton, who donned a red top with fringe in the clip, explained she was taking a break from shooting commercials for the Grand Ole Opry, “which is kind of why I’m dressed like an ol’ country and western girl.”
“Anyway, I wanted to put everybody’s mind at ease, those of you that seem to be real concerned, which I appreciate and I appreciate your prayers,” she went on, “because I’m a person of faith.”
Parton explained she was staying close to her Nashville home and to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she was undergoing “a few treatments here and there.”
The singer said in her video that health “problems” she’d been dealing with had exacerbated while her late husband Carl Dean was sick “for a long time.” Dean died in March at the age of 82.
“I let a lot of things go that I should have been taking care of,” she explained.
Parton assured fans she had “nothing major” wrong with her health.
“There’s just a lot of rumors flying around,” she said. “But I figured if you heard it from me, you’d know that I was OK.”
“I’m not ready to die yet,” she concluded, “and I don’t think God is through with me and I ain’t done working. So I love you for caring and keep praying for me.”
