The man who announced Dolly Parton’s death has now been accused of extortion and violent threats. Bryan Seaver worked as Dolly’s head of security for more than two decades and is also her nephew.
Then, on September 16, he reportedly received notice of immediate dismissal from the security role, TMZ reported. Just days later, She’s Alive LLC (set up by Dolly to protect her business interests and legacy) filed a lawsuit against Bryan and was granted a temporary restraining order.
Dolly’s estate has accused Bryan of extortion and threatening behavior.
According to a court filing (per People), Dolly’s estate alleged that Bryan has relied on “an obscene, deliberate and escalating campaign of threats” to try to get money from the estate. This allegedly started “a few weeks” before Dolly’s death, USA Today reported.
The estate also claimed that Bryan made a series of ominous threats, some of which allegedly referenced weapons. The filing stated that Bryan sought to “destroy the entire brand.” His goal, the filing alleged, was to “cause fear and chaos” and therefore “extort money for his personal gain.”
Additionally, the lawsuit claimed that staff members have resigned due to the alleged threats. “For example, in writing within just the past four weeks, Mr. Seaver has claimed to be ‘a killer,’ ‘an international arms dealer,’ and a ‘mercenary,'” the lawsuit claims. “He wrote, ‘All I do is warfare. Everyone needs to be worried about what I might do.”
Some of Dolly’s sisters have seemingly commented on the drama.
On September 23, just after news about the lawsuit started circulating online, Freida Parton took to Facebook to assert that there is “no feud” in her family at this time.
“I’ll say this and this only: there is no feud within our family,” she wrote. “No one among the Parton/Owens family is fighting over Dolly’s estate.” And that includes Bryan, whom she mentioned specifically in her post.
“We all love Bryan, just as we all love each other,” she added. On September 24, Stella Parton, who is another one of Dolly’s sisters, also addressed some of what has been covered in the media after her sister’s death. She didn’t mention the lawsuit directly in her update, but wrote about how she and her family have been doing.
“Regardless of what you may have seen on different news outlets, we are all doing what you would be doing under the same circumstances; we are living our lives one day at a time and being grateful for every blessing,” she wrote.
Bryan has also addressed the allegations.
In a statement, he suggested that the claim about him being a “killer” was taken out of context. “Dolly called me her killer. It was a joke we used around her camp,” he told ABC News.
He also denied the claims about threatening behavior. “I’ve never threatened anyone …” he said. “They are my friends and my brothers and colleagues.”
Similarly, he told the New York Times, “This is a contrived out-of-context explanation of how this went down, and it is being done in an effort to solidify me as some sort of opposition to her brand in her legacy. And that is not the case.”
