A chipper sounding Dolly Parton has shared a health update on Instagram, reassuring fans she’s “responding really well to meds and treatments” but that she nonetheless will have to cancel an upcoming Las Vegas residency.
The good news, Parton says in the video (watch it below) “is I’m responding really well to meds and treatments, and I’m improving every day.”
“Now, the bad news,” she continues, “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. And of course I can’t be dizzy carrying around banjos, guitars and such on five-inch heels, and you know I’m gonna be wearing them. Not to mention all those heavy rhinestone outfits, the big hair and my big…..uh… personality. Lord those, uh, that, would make anybody swimmy-headed.”
Parton’s Dolly: Live in Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace was initially scheduled for June 2025, then postponed to September 2026, and now has been canceled altogether, at least for the time being.
Parton noted that she continues to work on recordings, preparing for the opening of her Nashville museum and hotel this year and is “rewriting and reworking” Dolly: A True Original Musical that’s set to hit Broadway “this fall or early winter.”
She added, “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.” After inviting everyone to come up and see her show in New York, she adds, “And I’ll see you somewhere down the line.”
Although the country icon doesn’t go into specifics about her health challenges – Parton refers to a previous, 2025 bout with kidney stones – she does say, “my immune system and my digestive system got all out of whack over the past couple of years, and they’re working real hard on rebuilding their strength.”
Taking a continued light-hearted approach, she likens her herself to an old car.
“When they raised the hood on this old antique,” she says, “they realized that I need to rebuild my engine and that my transmission is slipping, my oil pan is leaking, my muffler’s busted and my shocks and pistons need to be replaced. 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. I know I’m still crazy, but they didn’t mention anything about my mental health.”
At another point, she notes, “I have great doctors, and they assure me that everything is treatable.”
Parton also takes time in the video to speak about her late husband Carl, who died last year.
“A lot of you have been concerned about me and Carl, and you were so great about that,” she says. “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.”
She continues, “But I will always love him, and I will always miss him, but you would be surprised how much your love and concern meant to me during that time. Lord, my house and my porch looked like the botanical gardens….from the bottom of my heart I thank you. You have been a big part of my healing.”
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