As Dolly Parton looks ahead to her 80th birthday in January 2026, she doesn’t seem overly concerned about getting older. In her mind, she doesn’t really have a reason to be. The country music icon has been making music for several decades now, and yet, she feels like she’s “just getting started,” she recently told People.
While other people might see her 80th birthday as pretty significant, Dolly doesn’t think it’s such a big deal. “People say, ‘Well, you’re going to be 80 years old.’ Well, so what? Look at all I’ve done in 80 years,” she told the publication. After doing the interview, Dolly faced some health challenges that caused her to postpone some of her shows. However, a source told People that she’s “doing better every day” and simply resting at home with loved ones as she recovers.
“She is at home taking care of herself while many friends and family visit her,” the insider said. “In true Dolly spirit she has already started decorating for the holidays — her favorite time of year.”
At the time of the interview, Dolly had not yet faced these health setbacks, and didn’t seem worried about her age. “I think there’s a lot to be said about age,” she told the publication. “If you allow yourself to get old, you will. I say, ‘I ain’t got time to get old!’ I ain’t got time to dwell on that. That’s not what I’m thinking about.”
During the interview, she also reflected on how she’s managed to achieve so much. “I have just been going so fast my whole life,” she told the publication. “And I just start thinking, ‘How in the world did I even have a life? How did I even get it done?’ I really realized when I was putting this book together just how much I had sacrificed in my life. I never had children, so at least I didn’t have a guilty feeling. I’m thankful that I got to see my dreams come true.”
In January 2025, Dolly told People that she still can’t believe she’s famous sometimes. “I think I’m a star to everybody but me,” she revealed at the time. “I always wanted to be famous, but nobody could have thought of the extent it became. I’ll see a whole wall of my pictures somewhere, and I’ll wonder ‘How did that happen?’”
Earlier this year, Dolly lost her husband, Carl Dean. They spent more than 60 years together. Throughout Dolly’s career, Carl stayed out of the spotlight. Though they were very different people in some ways, they worked “so well together,” she said previously.
“He said, ‘I didn’t choose this world, I chose you, and you chose that world,'” she told Entertainment Tonight.
