Dolly Parton Said She Never ‘Slept With Anybody to Get Ahead’: ‘I Was Pretty Clever’
Dolly Parton is a massive name in the country music world. And fans adore her for her hilarious quips, massive talent, and iconic looks. Parton talked a lot about how she attained fame, and it hasn’t always been easy to get flirtatious men to take her seriously. In 2023, Parton spoke to Howard Stern about whether she would sleep with men for career benefits. Here’s what she said.
Dolly Parton said she didn’t have sex with men to get ahead, but she did flirt with them
Dolly Parton is a huge flirt, and she takes pride in her ability to have fun with men without it getting in the way of her career. In December 2023, she spoke on The Howard Stern Show about her initial move to Nashville, Tennessee, at age 18. She explained that she met her husband the day she moved to Nashville, which wasn’t part of her plan. Aside from her husband, she got a lot of attention from other men.
“Men flirted with me, but I was a flirt myself,” Parton said. “I never took it wrong, because, you gotta remember, I had six brothers, and my dad, and my uncles, and I loved men. There’s only been a few uncomfortable moments, but I think anybody would have those. It’s just not somebody taking you as serious as you are until you really make them know, ‘Hey, I’m serious here, knock it off.'”
Parton added that she thinks like a woman but looks like a man. “I never slept with anybody to get ahead, to get from point A to point B,” she continued. “If I slept with somebody, it’s ’cause I wanted to, not because I was doing it for any reason other than just something that I wanted to do. … I’m pretty sharp. I’m pretty clever.”
She said she ‘believed’ in her ‘talent,’ which kept the men at bay
While talking to Howard Stern, Dolly Parton added that she wanted attention for how she looked and dressed. “If I was gonna dress like I dressed and look like I looked, I would’ve been disappointed if somebody hadn’t noticed me or paid attention to me,” she continued.
In an interview with journalist Dan Rather years earlier, Parton addressed how she believed in herself enough to brush off the flirtatious men. She explained that she believed in her talent, which was the most critical aspect of her career.
“I, first of all, believed in my talent,” Parton said. “I really believed that I was heading to Nashville with something to sell. I thought my songs were good, and I thought I was a good enough singer that I could pull it off.”
Parton added that she was “always proud to be a woman.” “I never took their flirtin’ as an insult; I thought it was a compliment,” she continued. “But I knew how to handle it.”
Kenny Rogers said he and Dolly Parton ‘teased’ and ‘flirted’
Dolly Parton met her husband, Carol Thomas Dean, in 1964. While she had the love of her life, that didn’t stop her from flirting with other big names. Singer/songwriter Kenny Rodgers spoke on HuffPost Live about his relationship with Parton years before his death.
“Everybody always thought we were having an affair,” he admitted. “We worked together for two years. But, we didn’t; we just teased each other, and we flirted with each other for 30 years. It keeps a lot of tension in there, you know?”
“She’s the kind of person that if she walked through the door and I hadn’t seen her for five years, I would be just as comfortable as I was the last time I saw her,” Rogers added. “And that’s hard to find.”
For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s YouTube channel.
