Dolly Parton Opens up about Doing Tattoos ‘Just to Cover up Some Scars’ in a Resurfaced Interview

The issue of country star Dolly Parton’s tattoos is still treated by many as a sort of urban legend. But there is actual footage of the singer admitting it during a 2016 TV interview.

73-year-old is a living legend that transcends music genres and a household name thanks to her work as a recording actress and actress with a career spanning 50 years, but there are still certain mysteries about her.

Parton is known to be very outspoken about her private affairs and she is famous for doing things her own way, so there is always a great curiosity about her actions and life choices that she keeps fueling interview after interview.

LARRY KING NOW

In August 2016, the star visited one of the most watched TV hosts, 85-year-old Larry King on “Larry King Now” for an interview, and he didn’t miss the opportunity to ask the “Jolene” singer whether she had any tattoos.

“I do. But they are not tattoos that are bold statements. I have some tattoos that I started doing just to cover up some scarring that I have,” Parton revealed.

“I have keloids scarring and sometimes they don’t lose the purple, so I started having little pastel little things to disguise them splattered here and there but I wouldn’t be a biker chick or anything,” she explained.

E! NEWS

The “9 to 5” actress also opened up about it in 2017 when interviewed by E! News Jason Kennedy. "I have a few little tattoos. My tattoos were before they became a fad,” she shared.

“All of mine are pastels. They're just scattered here and there, where I need them, but they're not the kind of thing to show on television usually,” Parton added.

Besides her music, Parton’s biggest creation is her own larger-than-life public persona, which she has carefully devised over the years with no little help from beauty enhancements, as she has no problem admitting.

MORE DETAILS ABOUT HER TATTOOS

Recently, Parton’s tattoos were the subject of an entire episode of Taste of Country’s “The Secret History of Country Music” hosted by Ania Hammar, on which they referred to a couple rumors about it.

Hammar shared a segment from a 1986 interview with Jay Leno on which the TV host tried to take a peek at one of Parton’s arm tattoos, prompting her to reveal that she had an angel and a butterfly done there.

Hammar also pointed out to one picture on which a chest tattoo seems to be exposed as she wore a deep cleavage, but the existence of this tattoo was denied by Parton, who reportedly said it was only an issue with the lighting.

OTHER COUNTRY MUSICIANS ROCKING TATTOOS

While tattoos were once associated mainly to rock musicians, they are a widespread fashion trend for everybody to have, and more and more country musicians such as the Queen herself have gotten them done.

Some country music artists that have gotten tattoos are Brett Young, Brantley Gilbert, Tyler Farr, and Keith Urban.

Parton’s superstar goddaughter, 26-year-old Miley Cyrus, is much less mysterious with her body and is known to have a great number of tattoos on her. It makes us wonder if she was influenced by Parton when she started getting them.

DOLLY’S LARGER-THAN-LIFE PERSONA

Besides her music, Parton’s biggest creation is her own larger-than-life public persona, which she has carefully devised over the years with no little help from beauty enhancements, as she has no problem admitting.

Her image is so iconic that sometimes she even has trouble to keep up with it, like her famous anecdote of entering a Dolly Parton lookalike contest on a Halloween night in Santa Monica, California, only to lose to a guy dressed up as her, proves.