Dolly Parton Learned Her Aunt Was Selling Lies About Her to the Press
Dolly Parton has been famous for decades, and in this time, some outrageous stories about her have circulated in the press. Parton, who subscribes to the belief that no press is bad press, tends to laugh these rumors off. The musician said they’re often untrue, even when they come from her own family. Parton revealed that for a while, her aunt sold outright lies about her to the media.
Dolly Parton’s estranged aunt was selling stories about her to the press
When stories about Parton began circulating from a source “within the family,” she learned her aunt was the culprit. Parton barely even knew her.
“Family members who actually knew her had told me, ‘Everybody knows she’s crazy,’” Parton wrote in her book Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. “Apparently tabloid editors are not a part of ‘everybody.’ Although she might have been crazy, she was aware enough to know that her relationship to me could be turned into money. She simply made up stories about me.”
Parton believed her aunt wanted more than the money she made by selling stories to the press. She wanted an entry point into the world of celebrity. Her famous niece was her best shot of getting there. Her behavior didn’t impress Parton, though, and she began referring to her aunt as the “Squealer.”
“During the filming of Rhinestone, I had a big to-do at my house and invited some of the people from ‘up home’ to meet the Hollywood types and vice versa,” she wrote. “Apparently the Squealer was hurt that she was not invited to rub elbows with [Sylvester] Stallone and the like, and she undertook her smear campaign out of spite.”
Parton considered confronting her aunt, but other family members advised her against it. She also felt a degree of empathy toward her.
“Having scratched and clawed my way to fame and fortune, I can understand that drive,” she wrote. “Unlike some people though, I always wanted to do it on my own. I can imagine the frustration of being on the edge of something big. It’s as if you are dying for lack of sunlight and then have the sun come just up to the edge of your toes, leaving you in the shadows.”
Dolly Parton said this betrayal didn’t hurt as much as other people who sold stories to the press
It was frustrating to have her aunt sell stories about her. Parton said it didn’t hurt as badly as it did when people she knew did it, though.
“As bizarre as the story of the Squealer is, it is still easier to laugh at her shenanigans than at the efforts of some other people to cash in on their proximity to the ‘Queen of the Tabloids,’” she wrote. “There was one time when I was deeply hurt, not by the stories that came out but by betrayal. I had become friends with certain people (at a time when I really needed friends) and had taken them into my confidence. They were obviously in need as well, and I did everything I could to help them, really opened my heart (and my pocketbook) to them. That’s why it was so devastating when they tried to blackmail me.”
She explained that people she considered friends claimed they had “pictures, videos, and tapes” of her. Her manager, Sandy Gallin, met with them and paid them off. While they didn’t turn out to be anything defamatory, Parton said the betrayal stung.
The ‘Jolene’ singer admitted many of the stories about her have some truth to them
Parton usually laughs at the tabloid stories about her. Still, she admitted that they typically have some shred of truth to them.
“I will say that most of the stories in the tabloids, at least the ones I have any knowledge of, have some thread of truth to them, no matter how frayed that thread might be,” she wrote, adding, “I have sometimes been called the ‘Queen of the Tabloids,’ which is a title I don’t particularly mind having. I have to admit there’s a part of me that likes the idea of being the queen of just about anything.”
Parton also believes that having her face on the cover of magazines is rarely a bad thing, even if an outlandish headline accompanies it. She only feels upset when a story is about her family.
