Dolly Parton's new book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, is a tell-all, and within the pages she reveals how her grandfather reacted to her choice of style when she was younger. The 77-year-old country icon had to "pay the price" of her fashion choices. In an interview with The Guardian, she opened up about how she took inspiration from the "town tramp," which she described as a woman who would wear tight skirts and high heels.
But taking on that particular style didn't sit well with her grandfather, who punished her physically.
“She was flamboyant," Dolly wrote in the book, referring to the town tramp. "She had bright red lipstick, long red fingernails. She had high-heeled shoes, little floating plastic goldfish in the heels of them, short skirts, low-cut tops, and I just thought she was beautiful.”
She continued on to share that her grandfather would whip her for the way that she dressed. But that didn't stop her from showing off her style.
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“I was willing to pay for it,” she explained. “I’m very sensitive, I didn’t like being disciplined. It hurt my feelings so bad to be scolded or whipped or whatever. But sometimes there’s just that part of you that’s willing, if you want something bad enough, to go for it.”
The book, which is set to release on October 17, 2023, takes readers through the years of Dolly's fashion choices. She also has an album titled Rockstar releasing on November 17, 2023, fetauring a handful of collaborations with other well-known artists.
In an interview with Billboard, she discussed why she never changed who or how she was for anyone. “My look came from a very serious place. That’s how I thought I looked best," she explained. "Sometimes that’s worked for me, sometimes it can work against you. It took me probably years longer to be taken serious, but I wasn’t willing to change it, and I figured if I had the talent, it’d show up sooner or later.”
She also opened up about not being taken seriously as a woman in the music industry early on. "I always knew how to maneuver in a crowd of men,” she said. “I never slept with anybody to get ahead, because to me it wouldn’t be worth it. That don’t usually work in the long haul either.”
And unfortunately, being in a career full of men also came with dealing with sexual harassment. "I always knew how to put a man in his place without making him feel bad. If sometimes that don’t work, I’m also strong as a boy – I know how to push you off and get the [expletive] away from you.”
"And that’s a very uncomfortable situation. I was always able to get away before [a serious assault] would happen, but I feel sorry because some women are not able and some men are that aggressive.”
