Dolly Parton shared a few updates on her life — including her health and her first year without late husband Carl Dean — in a new video she posted on Monday (May 4).

The beloved country legend, 80, started with health updates. Parton opened up about “health challenges” in September 2025. She’d “had a little problem,” with a kidney stone that had “given me an infection. …Don’t worry about me. I’m gonna be OK.” Weeks later, she pushed back her Las Vegas residency dates. After continued concern and rumors spreading online, Parton shared a video to assure fans, “I’m OK. …I figured if you heard it from me, you’d know that I was OK.” She began the new update shared to TikTok, Instagram and other platforms on Monday:

“Well hey there, it’s Dolly, and I am here to give you an update on a few things going on in my life. First, it’s concerning my health, and I have some good news and a little bad news. But the good news is I’m responding really well to meds and treatments, and I’m improving every day. Now, the bad news is, it’s gonna take me a little while before I’m up to stage-performance level, because some of the meds and treatments make me a little bit ‘swimmy-headed,’ as my grandma used to say. And of course, I can’t be dizzy carrying around banjos, guitars, and such on five-inch heels, and you know that I’m going to be wearing them. not to mention all those heavy rhinestone outfits, the big hair, my big, uh, personality. Lord, those — that — would make anybody ‘swimmy-headed.’”

Parton continued the update with her signature sense of humor, comparing her health to “an old classic car.” The singer-songwriter said she needed work on her “transmission,” “oil pan” and more, and “for sure, my spark plugs need to be changed, because you know as well as I know that I can’t lose my spark! …Anyway, I know I’m being silly, but I’m just trying to keep everything light and airy. They say that a happy heart is like good medicine.”

Parton confirmed she’s still working on many of her ongoing projects, including her upcoming hotel and museum in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, reworking her autobiographical musical before it opens on Broadway in New York City (DOLLY: A True Original Musical), and more. “And oh, on a more serious note, I am truly sorry that I’m going to miss all of you that had tickets to see me in Las Vegas. Well you get on to Vegas and you have a big time, and hopefully sometime you’ll come up to New York and maybe see my show, and I’ll see you somewhere down the line.”

Parton went on to talk about her late husband. Dean died on March 3, 2025. He was 82. He and Parton were married for nearly 60 years. Parton shared that the first year without Dean “was hard for me,” and expressed her gratitude for the support she received during that time:

“A lot of you’ve been concerned about me and Carl, and you were so great about that. But after going through a year of firsts I mean the holidays, and especially our wedding anniversary, and the day of his death, March 3 — you know, that was hard for me. But I will always love him, and I’ll always miss him. But you would be surprised at how much your love and concern meant to me during that time. Lord my house and my porch looked like the botanical gardens with all the flowers, and my den looked like the post office with all the cards and letters. So yes, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you. You have been a big part of my healing. Speaking of Carl and my health, I remember back years ago, I was saying something, I was griping about something hurting or this and that, and Carl said, ‘now honey, you got to remember you’re not getting any younger.’ I said, ‘well honey, you’ve got to remember that as long as there are plastic surgeons in this world, I’m not getting any older.’

“But anyway, of course, plastic surgeons can make you look as good as they can on the outside, but it’s serious business when you’re talking about internal medicine. So I have great doctors, and I’m doing really well, and they assure me that everything I have is treatable, so I’m going with that. And I just want you to know I thank you for standing by me, and that I will always love you.”

Watch the clip here:

Kathi Yeager

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