Nation music icon Dolly Parton died on Aug. 25. She was 80.
Parton’s nephew and her longtime head of safety, Bryan Seaver, confirmed her passing in an emotional Instagram publish the identical day.
Days earlier than her dying, the musician gave her last well being replace after canceling her Dollywood occasion.
In an interview with Individuals printed Aug. 22, she admitted she was coping with “some well being points” she “simply didn’t take note of” as she was “watching over” her longtime husband, Carl Dean, in his last days earlier than his dying on the age of 82 in March 2025.
Parton has been open about a number of well being challenges she’s confronted over her decades-long profession.
Web page Six is having a look again on the singer’s medical points she’s endured as followers mourn her passing.
Identified with endometriosis
Within the early Eighties, Parton started experiencing vital belly ache and hemorrhaging. Her situation landed her within the hospital a number of instances and he or she underwent a number of procedures.
In 1982, was compelled to cancel a tour because of her worsening situation and was later identified with endometriosis.
The persistent situation impacts 1 in 10 ladies worldwide and happens when tissue much like the uterine lining grows exterior the uterus, per the Mayo Clinic.
Endometriosis usually inflicting intense pelvic ache — particularly throughout menstrual durations — and may result in fertility points.
So as to handle her gynecological issues, the songwriter underwent a partial hysterectomy in 1985 on the age of 36, in accordance with an interview with Nearer Weekly.
The surgical procedure meant she couldn’t carry kids, one thing she has candidly mentioned through the years.
Melancholy and psychological well being struggles
Within the mid-Eighties, Parton opened up about her psychological well being points and a severe depressive interval.
In a Women Dwelling Journal interview included within the 2017 ebook “Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton,” the Queen of Nation opened up concerning the tough few years she endured.
“I used to be 35 after I first acquired sick,” she admitted. “I went to the very backside so far as my feelings and my well being are involved.”
Parton defined that her psychological well being struggles started impacting her bodily well being as nicely.
“I used to be getting away with homicide. I wasn’t watching what I ate, I wasn’t aware of vitamin, wasn’t caring for myself. I used to be working exhausting, and beneath I used to be a pile of private and emotional issues… I fell aside.”
She continued, “It was abdomen issues and feminine issues — allover well being issues truly. It was God’s approach of telling me to get myself straight… I’m grateful it occurred after I was nonetheless younger sufficient to bounce again.”
Throughout a 2004 interview with CBS Information, Parton mirrored on her despair, noting that “cash ain’t every part” and that psychological well being can have an effect on anybody.
“I actually had a down interval for about 18 months, two years, till I lastly was so depressed over my weight and lots of different issues till I simply thought, ‘You recognize, both stand up off your fats ass and get on together with your life or blow your head off and let everybody else go on with theirs,’” Parton mentioned.
“Individuals don’t understand that we, we that means individuals in present enterprise, have the identical issues as everybody else,” she defined.
“Cash doesn’t change that. Fame doesn’t change that. Generally that brings on extra issues. You recognize, it’s only a totally different form of issues.”
Extreme again ache
In 2008, the “9 to five” star postponed the North American leg of her “Backwoods Barbie” tour after docs informed her to relaxation for six to eight weeks due to a again drawback.
On the time, Parton attributed the again ache to her giant chest.
“Hey, you attempt wagging these puppies round some time and see when you don’t have again issues,” she quipped, per Reuters.
“The reality is I simply bent over sooner or later to choose one thing up, and I damage my decrease again… I simply form of popped a disk in my decrease again,” she later defined, assuring her followers that “it’s nice.”
“It was simply a type of freak issues.”
Kidney stone an infection
The Grammy-winning artist was compelled to step again from the limelight in September 2025 after affected by kidney stones.
“Turns on the market was an an infection, and the physician mentioned, ‘You don’t have to be touring round this minute, so that you want just a few days to get higher,’” Parton mentioned in a video shared on the time when she couldn’t seem in particular person for a Dollywood occasion.
The “Jolene” songstress beforehand revealed she had kidney stones eliminated in 2015 whereas shutting down rumors of abdomen most cancers.
Shortly after revealing the an infection, Parton postponed her Las Vegas residency because of “well being challenges” and a “few procedures.”
In Might 2026, she ended up canceling the reveals altogether, sharing that she wanted extra time to be “as much as stage efficiency degree.”
“The excellent news is I’m responding rather well to meds and coverings and I’m bettering daily,” Parton assured her followers.
“I’m doing rather well, and so they guarantee me that every part I’ve is treatable, so I’m going with that, and I simply need you to know I thanks for standing by me and that I’ll at all times love you.”
‘Kidney and autoimmune points’
Parton was reportedly hospitalized with “kidney and autoimmune points” simply 5 days earlier than her dying, in accordance with TMZ.
She was admitted to Vanderbilt College Medical Heart in Nashville on Aug. 20, per the outlet.
Earlier in August, Parton canceled a deliberate look at her Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, after a physician ordered her to not journey because of ongoing “well being points.”
In a pre-recorded video proven on the occasion, Parton mentioned, “Generally I get a bit dizzy, and I get dehydrated. And so my Nashville physician clipped my wings, saying you ain’t touring this week.”
