Dolly Parton Shares Health Update After Skipping Dollywood Ride Grand Opening: ‘I Get a Little Dizzy’
Dolly Parton Shares Health Update After Skipping Dollywood Ride Grand Opening: ‘I Get a Little Dizzy’
Rachel DeSantisMon, August 17, 2026 at 6:04 PM UTC
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Dolly Parton in Nashville in May 2025.Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty -
Dolly Parton shared a health update after canceling her Las Vegas residency earlier this year
The singer appeared via video at Dollywood’s new ride opening, citing dehydration and dizziness as reasons for staying home
Parton assured fans she is improving, working on new projects, and grateful for their support during personal challenges
Dolly Parton is sharing a positive update on her health, months after canceling her Las Vegas residency.
The country legend, 80, was set to attend the Aug. 14 grand opening of NightFlight Expedition, a new ride at her Dollywood theme park, but appeared instead via a recorded video from her home in Nashville.
In the video, Parton appeared with butterfly wings flapping behind her and explained that because of her health issues, her doctor told her she couldn’t make the 200-mile trip to Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
“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, according to fan video shared to social media. “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.”
Dolly Parton in Nashville in November 2023.Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty
The “Jolene” singer added that “all is going well on the medical end of things,” and she is still hard at work on projects like her SongTeller Hotel, Life of Many Colors Museum and upcoming Broadway show Dolly: A True Original Musical.
She finished her video by expressing excitement for NightFlight Expedition and said she would see everyone “down the road.”
The ride is a new immersive indoor adventure coaster described as a “groundbreaking new addition” to Dollywood, the theme park Parton has operated since 1986. Rides begin for the public on Aug. 19.
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Parton has been open with her fans about experiencing undisclosed health issues, and canceled her previously postponed Las Vegas residency in May. That month, she said in an Instagram Reel that she’s “still got some healing to do.”
“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,” she said in the video. “Now, the bad news is that 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 swimmy-headed, as my grandma used to say.”
Dolly Parton in Los Angeles in November 2022.Credit: Theo Wargo/Getty
“A lot of you have 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 date of his death, March. 3, that was hard for me,” said Parton. “But I will always love him, and I will always miss him, but you would be surprised at how much your love and concern meant to me during that time.”
The singer, who has previously mentioned having issues with kidney stones, made a public appearance in June at the opening day of her themed truck stop in Cornersville, Tenn.
“She’s doing great,” her sister Stella Parton told PEOPLE that same month. “She’s very philosophical about everything as well, so we’re good. And if all else fails, we make a joke about it.”
She went on to use the idea of restoring a classic car to be “better than ever” as a metaphor for her health issues, and also reflected on the 2025 death of her husband, Carl Dean.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
