Dolly Parton’s ‘Whole Body Was Dangling Overboard’ While on a Boat in a Violent Storm
Dolly Parton and her manager Sandy Gallin boarded a boat in Australia to head to a remote island. Gallin wanted to help Parton step away from her fame for a moment. Fans had already foiled their originally planned trip to Australia when they found out she was coming. Their intended relaxing trip got off to an even rockier start because of stormy weather. The ocean became so turbulent that Parton nearly fell off the boat.
Dolly Parton found herself in a dangerous position while on a boat
After she dealt with health problems, Parton needed a vacation. Gallin took her to Australia, and they left for a remote island from there. Parton and Gallin boarded the boat despite her fears that it was too small to travel the lengthy distance. Not long after they boarded, a storm blew in.
“The storm turned out to be much worse even than our captain had imagined,” Parton wrote in her book Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. “Winds that must have been near hurricane force whipped the seas into a frenzy. The couple busied themselves with trying to handle the boat and keep it afloat, and I’m glad they did. But that left Sandy and me to fend for ourselves.”
Parton and Gallin held on as tightly as they could. She watched as a wave took her shoes overboard. The next wave nearly took her with it.
“The next wave almost got me,” she wrote. “A wall of water came crashing over the boat, slapping it around like a toy. I slid across the deck, completely out of control. I felt a rush of cold water surround me as the sea swept me in. I managed to grab a railing and stay with the boat, but my whole body was dangling overboard. I could think of nothing but the shark stories the captain had told us earlier.”
Luckily, Gallin made his way across the deck and pulled Parton back to safety. The storm was still so violent, though, that she felt certain the rescue had only delayed the inevitable.
Dolly Parton and Sandy Gallin got on the boat to dodge reporters
The reason Parton and Gallin found themselves on the boat in the first place was because constant fan and media attention had derailed their original plans. They could barely go anywhere without people swarming them. Gallin had planned the trip to help Parton “get away from it all,” and the media presence wasn’t helping with this.
Even when they prepared to board the boat, reporters eagerly covered Parton’s trip with her manager as if it was a romantic getaway.
“When we arrived, we were amazed to see reporters and photographers from the tabloids waiting for us,” she wrote. “Of course they were out for the big story: DOLLY WHISKED AWAY TO ROMANTIC GETAWAY BY MYSTERY MAN. Anyone who knows Sandy would know that the notion of the two of us being romantically involved is ridiculous. I am most assuredly not his type, and I don’t think I am breaking any big news to say so. Sandy doesn’t mind if I say that he’s gay. But he would also like for me to say that he’s gorgeous and available, which he is.”
She said the experience brought her closer to her manager
While Parton believed she would fall off the boat and into the mouth of a shark waiting below, the storm eventually passed. She believed the experience brought her closer to Gallin, who was already a good friend.
“I think that experience created in both of us the feeling that if we can survive that, we can survive anything,” she wrote. “As I look back at it, it is altogether fitting that Sandy was the one I shared it with. I know we will always be there to pull each other out of any storm in life, and that gives me great comfort.”
