Dolly Parton prioritized her career over having children and has no regrets about her decision.
In a recent interview, the renowned singer-songwriter emphasized that she does not feel like she has “missed” out on having children, acknowledging that starting a family would have shifted her focus away from her career.
Dolly Parton’s Says Having Kids Wasn’t ‘One Of Those Burning Things’
Parton and her husband Carl Dean first met at a laundromat in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1964, and they got married two years later.
The lovebirds chose not to have children, with the “Jolene” hitmaker explaining that it was not “a burning desire” for her.
Opening up about whether she had any regrets over the decision, the 77-year-old stated, “I haven’t missed it like I thought I might. When you’re a young couple, you think you’re going to have kids, but it just wasn’t one of those burning things for me. I had my career and my music and I was travelling.”
She explained that if she was a mother, she would “have stayed at home” with her kids, and “worried myself to death about them.”
The Grammy Award winner also expressed that bringing kids into today’s society would not sit right with her given “everything that’s going on.” In her words to Saga Exceptional:
“With everything that’s going on, I’d hate to be bringing a child into this world right now! I always say God didn’t let me have children so that all kids could be mine.”
Earlier this year, Parton gave fans a rare insight into what makes her nearly six-decade marriage work so well for her and her husband. She kicked off the conversation by explaining, “I think I’ve talked pretty much about everything through the years with Carl, and we’re different people. But we just work so well together.”
On the dynamic that Dean brings to their love life, the “Jolene” singer detailed, “He’s kind of a loner, so he doesn’t really like being with anybody but me, when I’m home — I mean, he’s not one to kind of get out there and socialize that much. He loves living on the farm, taking care of the property as he has for all these many years, and then, we just have a lot to talk about.”
Additionally, Parton mentioned that her husband’s preference for a quiet life matched his music appreciation, which contributed to their long-lasting romance. She further declared:
“We have a lot of love and respect for each other, and I think the key to all of it — we both have a crazy, warped sense of humor, so we have a lot of fun.”
Parton Has Every Intention To Die While Performing For Her Fans
As Parton continues to enjoy her child-free life, the “Joyful Noise” star has no plans to quit music despite her advancing age. In July, she affirmed that she “would never retire” from music while highlighting that she “would hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song on stage someday.”
Following the passionate declaration, the actress addressed how the physical constraints of age had affected her touring plans.
“I’m not touring anymore, but I will continue to do special shows here and there now and then, like a long weekend or festival shows. You have to stay gone so long on a tour to make it productive and prosperous, and that’s a lot of time at my age – I ain’t got no years to waste,” Parton shared.
She also touched on her interest in investing more time in Hollywood and has plans to bring her life story to the silver screen in the near future. On that, she communicated, “I want to have my own story called The Life of Many Colours where I have a whole TV series of my life.”
Fans should expect the prospective film project Parton is considering to focus on the unseen aspects of her rise to fame as she divulged:
“Stuff that people haven’t seen or heard about me and where I come from and how I got to be how and who I am. The bad, the good, and the ugly.”