Jane Fonda has named the biggest lesson that Dolly Parton taught her, in an emotional tribute days after the country singer’s private funeral.
Fonda, who starred with Parton in 1980 comedy film 9 to 5, tearfully opened up on the subject of Parton one week after she died. The singer died aged 80, in Nashville, Tennessee, after what her family said was a “brief battle” with an undisclosed form of cancer.
Fonda recalled how she would accompany Parton while she visited people who “lived in tarp paper shacks with no electricity or running water” in the “deep hollows of Tennessee and Arkansas” – and witnessed how much love they had for the Queen of Country.
“She would come in in her full regalia – I never saw her without full regalia – and they loved her so much that they accepted my presence, and it was so clear that she absolutely respected them,” Fonda told Democracy Now.
Fonda, 88, said these experiences enabled her to learn “the importance of acknowledging and respecting fans”, adding: “That was why there was so much love. She never played down. She was always who she was, out of respect for her fans.”
Following the initial announcement of Parton’s death, Fonda wrote on Instagram: “She was simultaneously a naughty, playful southern gal from the hollows of Tennessee and a deep, soulful thinker who could see through people right down to their true selves. She was many things… lyricist, songstress, player of many instruments, writer, prankster, visionary, loyal friend, who’d never go to bed before she and her friends had laughed so hard they’d have to cross their legs.”
The Hollywood star continued: “She had a survivor’s instinct and seemed to always know just what to do, just what to say, to make things right... and then she’[d] stick her butt out the car window and moon Kenny Rogers’ home. She was the voluptuous embodiment of empathy. That’s something of hers she’d want us all to take with us.”
Parton was believed to be the world’s wealthiest country music star, with an estimated net worth of $500m (£367.8m), and was a noted philanthropist. She was known for her efforts to encourage literacy around the world through her Dollywood Foundation’s Imagination Library, and also used her money to fight the HIV/Aids crisis, fund the American Red Cross and develop a Covid vaccine.
Tributes poured in for the singer after news broke of her death, with messages from everybody ranging from Paul McCartney and Beyoncé to her goddaughter Miley Cyrus and Fast & Furious actor Vin Diesel, who shared an emotive rendition of Parton’s hit “I Will Always Love You”.
Since her death, a clip of Julia Roberts talking about Parton has resurfaced online, revealing a crucial piece of advice the singer gave the actor during a sweltering day filming Steel Magnolias in the Louisiana summer heat.
When Roberts wondered how Parton wasn’t moaning about the heat, despite wearing a wig and a woollen costume, she told her: “When I was a little girl, I wanted to be famous and I wanted to be rich, and now I’m both those things. I’m not going to complain about it.”
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