Dolly Parton appeared warm, upbeat and characteristically radiant in what turned out to be her final public appearance, addressing fans in a pre-recorded video about the health issues that had kept her from attending events in person in her final weeks.
The country music icon has died at age 80, her nephew Bryan Seaver confirmed in an Instagram video on Tuesday.
Just days before, on August 14, she had been scheduled to attend the grand opening of the NightFlight Expedition ride at Dollywood but withdrew at the last minute.
In her place, a recorded video message was played on a screen at the park, a clip, later shared by a fan on TikTok, that now stands as her last public appearance.
In it, Parton wore a bright pink, gem-covered top with oversized butterfly wings and explained her absence directly to fans.
“I’m still in Nashville, and I’m sorry about that. I’m supposed to be there in person like we planned.”
She went on to describe the symptoms behind her doctor’s orders.
“I’ve told you before, all my fans, that I’ve had a few little health issues and sometimes I get a little dizzy and I get dehydrated. And I’m dehydrated. So my Nashville doctor has kind of clipped my wings, saying, ‘You ain’t traveling this week.’ So I guess if your doctor tells you, ‘You ain’t traveling this week,’ you ain’t traveling this week.”
She reassured fans that things were “going well on the medical end of things” and said she remained busy with other projects, including her SongTeller Hotel in downtown Nashville, her Life of Many Colors Museum, and the upcoming Broadway musical about her life, Dolly: A True Original Musical.
Days later, Parton spoke more candidly about her health in an interview with PEOPLE, tying some of her recent struggles to the toll of caring for her late husband, Carl Thomas Dean, who died in March 2025.
“I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” she said.
Seaver, who also served as Parton’s head of security, described the announcement of her death as something she had specifically asked him to prepare years earlier.
“This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago before I fully absorbed it as a future reality.”
He said she had “lived in the light” and was now “in the arms of Jesus” alongside her late husband, her parents, and others who had long hoped to meet her.
Parton, widely known as the Queen of Country, built a music career spanning six decades, with signature hits including Jolene and 9 to 5.
Her death follows months of health struggles that had already forced her to pull out of a series of planned appearances, raising concern among fans in the lead-up to her passing.
