KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Country icon Dolly Parton posted a video on Wednesday letting fans know she’s OK amid worries about her health.
On Tuesday, Dolly Parton’s sister, Freida, asked for prayers, saying Dolly “hasn’t been feeling her best,” in a post that was shared around 21,000 times. Around a week earlier, the country music singer postponed her Las Vegas tour due to “health challenges.”
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But on Wednesday afternoon, Parton posted a video on X assuring her followers she “ain’t dead yet!”
“I know lately everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am. Do I look sick to you?” Parton asked, explaining that had been filming promotional videos for the Grand Ole Opry.
“I wanted to put everybody’s mind at ease, [for] those of you that seemed to be real concerned — which I appreciate, and I appreciate your prayers, because I’m a person of faith.”
In the two-minute video, Parton explained that she had “some problems” and didn’t take care of herself after her husband’s death. Parton said her doctor encouraged her to undergo a few medical treatments, causing her to reschedule some appearances and stay close to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Still, she emphasized that her issues were “nothing major.”
“I wanted you to know that I’m not dying,” she said. “I’m not ready to die yet. I don’t think God is through with me, and I ain’t done working. So, I love you for caring and keep praying for me.”
Parton didn’t specify which medical issues she was experiencing, but a representative for the award-winning artist previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that she was waiting to undergo surgery to address issues with kidney stones.
“It’s just the kidney stones, and the procedure she needs to resolve those,” the representative told the outlet. “It looks like her sister posted, and it got quite a bit blown out of proportion, weirdly.”
Dolly Parton, 79, performs on occasion but hasn’t toured since her “Pure & Simple Tour” ended in 2016. Last month, she also missed the announcement of the latest attraction at Dollywood, her Tennessee theme park, mentioning health issues.
“I had a kidney stone that was causing me a lot of problems, turned out it’d given me an infection, and the doctor said, ‘You don’t need to be traveling right this minute, so you need a few days to get better,’” Parton said in a video announcement at the time. “So, he suggested I not go to Dollywood today, but I’m there with you in spirit. I was looking so forward to it.”
Parton’s husband, Carl Dean, died in March at age 82. The pair had been married for nearly 60 years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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