Legendary country singer, actress and pop culture icon Dolly Parton passed away at 80 on August 25, following a brief struggle with cancer. Parton's nephew, Brian Seaver, was the first to share the news on Instagram. “I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it until now,” he wrote, adding: “It is an honour, an honour that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness.”
Crowned the 'queen of country', Parton bequeathed some of the greatest country songs of all time, including 'Jolene', 'I Will Always Love You' and '9 to 5'. She composed an estimated 3,000 songs across her six-decade career, belting out as many as 47 studio albums and winning 11 Grammys. She also acted in the films 9 to 5 (1980), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), Rhinestone (1984), Steel Magnolias (1989), Straight Talk (1992), and Joyful Noise (2012).
One of the most prolific music stars, Parton continued to stay active late into her career. She collaborated with contemporary pop stars like Beyoncé and Sabrina Carpenter. In 2024, she published her first solo rock album, titled Rockstar. Her last public appearance was in June 2026, when she honoured the opening of a truck stop in Cornersville, Tennessee after her name. She hospitalised at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee, on August 21 and died four days later on August 25. The type of cancer that took her life has not been revealed publicly.
Several international artists including John Elton, Beyoncé, Sabrina Carpenter, Pedro Pascal, Jamie Lee Curtis and others paid heartfelt tributes to Parton. From India, Bollywood stars like Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Kareena Kapoor Khan paid tributes on social media. Sharing a series of famous quotes by Parton, Khan wrote on Instagram stories: "My Girl, Love you foreever you Diva" and "Ufff Queen things."