Dolly Parton cancer battle revealed after icon’s death at 80
Dolly Parton’s representatives confirmed that she had been battling cancer before her death at age 80.
Dolly Parton had been battling cancer before her death at age 80, her representatives confirmed Aug. 25 to The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The country music icon died at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville after being hospitalized there Aug. 21. Parton’s representatives described her illness as a brief battle with cancer but did not disclose what type she had.
In a statement, Parton’s representatives reflected on her legacy while sharing more about her final days:
“Our beloved Dolly Parton spent her life and career bringing joy, laughter, hope and integrity into everything she touched. Her unmatched generosity reached the lives of countless people whom she would never meet, yet she was always there to offer a helping hand. Whether it be the hundreds of millions of books donated through her invaluable Imagination Library or funding research that helped create a lifesaving vaccine used around the world, Dolly’s unconditional love for all people was the guiding force for her lasting impact. After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones.”
The diagnosis had not been publicly known.
Parton’s death was announced Aug. 25 by her nephew Bryan Seaver on social media, who spoke on behalf of the Parton and Owens families. Seaver, the son of Parton’s sister Cassie, had also served as his aunt’s head of security for more than two decades.
The cancer diagnosis provides new context to a series of health concerns that had caused Parton to pull back from some public appearances over the past year.
In September 2025, Parton postponed a planned Las Vegas residency, saying she needed to undergo several medical procedures. The six concerts, originally scheduled for December 2025, were moved to September 2026.
Parton did not disclose the nature of those procedures at the time.
Parton made what would become her final public appearance June 24 at the opening of Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop in Cornersville, Tennessee.
Dolly Parton struggled with her health before her death
Parton had spoken about dealing with health challenges since 2025, when said she was doing “OK” but had “some problems” to deal with and was undergoing “a few treatments.” In May, as she canceled all of her Las Vegas shows, she said she was “responding really well to meds and treatments” and “improving every day” but wasn’t performance-ready yet.
The “I Will Always Love You” singer then skipped the grand opening of a new ride at her Dollywood theme park on Aug. 14 due to her health, instead attending virtually with a video message.
“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,” she said at the time. “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.”
Days before her death, Parton then told People in an Aug. 21 interview, “I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” referring to her late husband Carl Dean, who died in March 2025 at 82.
Parton’s nephew and former head of security Bryan Seaver announced her death on behalf of her family in a video shared to her social media pages Aug. 25.
“This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality,” Seaver began. “As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment, but haven’t truly felt it until now. It is an honor, an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness. But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly.”
“Dolly has lived in the light, and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens,” he continued.
Seaver went on to say, “Dolly opened doors, not just for me, but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible. Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians and dreamers from every walk of life, and across every continent.”
“By her example, we believed that anything was possible. She never saw a door she couldn’t open, and the doors she opened made and changed history.”
Dolly Parton left behind a legacy in music, philanthropy
Parton was known as a country music legend throughout her 60-year career, which was marked by numerous hits-turned-classics like “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “9 to 5” and “Coat of Many Colors.” She produced 49 studio albums, 25 of which landed in the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, the most of any female country artist.
Her success also earned her 11 Grammy Awards, including Lifetime Achievement recognition in 2011.
In addition to music, Parton appeared in more than 20 films. She made her onscreen debut in 1980 with “9 to 5,” starring alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, and later held leading roles in “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” with Burt Reynolds and “Steel Magnolias” with Sally Field and Shirley MacLaine.
“I’ve always had fun [in my career],” Parton said in 2025. “I’ve had a lot of hard times, but you have to go through all those things. But I always enjoyed my work.
Beyond her work in the spotlight, Parton was a passionate philanthropist. Her Dollywood Foundation, established in 1988, has donated millions of dollars for college scholarships.
She also launched Imagination Library, a book gifting program for children, and provided $1 million for the research that helped to create Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine during the global pandemic in 2020. In 2024, after Hurricane Helene caused devastating floods in East Tennessee, Parton donated $1 million to assist flood victims.
Parton owned her own music catalog, and she also earned royalties when Whitney Houston reworked her own version of “I Will Always Love You” in 1994, which became her hallmark song.
By the end of the 1990s, Parton earned more than $10 million from the song, according to Forbes, and she invested the money in an office complex in a Black neighborhood in Nashville.
“It was a whole strip mall. And I thought, ‘This is the perfect place for me to be, considering it was Whitney,” Parton said during a 2021 appearance on “What What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.” “I just thought, ‘This was great. I’m going to be down here with her people, who are my people as well.’ And so I just love the fact that I spent that money on a complex. And I think, ‘This is the house that Whitney built.'”
Another role she held was Dreamer-in-Chief of her Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which she opened in 1986. She opened up about the park’s legacy over the years, saying, “Even after I’m gone, we’ll still grow. We’ll still be going.”
While speaking with USA TODAY in a 2023 interview to promote her “Rockstar” album, which was her final studio album before her death, Parton shared her love for all aspects of her career.
“I would never retire. I’ll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song on stage someday, hopefully one I’ve written,” she said.