Dolly Parton turns 80 in January but insisted she isn't thinking about getting old

Dolly Parton hasn't "got time to get old".

The Jolene singer will turn 80 in January but she isn't worried about ageing because she feels like she is "just getting started" and has other things to focus on.

She told People magazine: “People say, ‘Well, you’re going to be 80 years old.’ Well, so what? Look at all I’ve done in 80 years. I feel like I’m just getting started.

“I know that sounds stupid, but unless my health gives way, which right now I seem to be doing fine . . . I think there’s a lot to be said about age. If you allow yourself to get old, you will. I say, ‘I ain’t got time to get old!’ I ain’t got time to dwell on that. That’s not what I’m thinking about.”

Dolly - whose husband Carl Dean died earlier this year - has been reflecting on how much she has "sacrificed" for the sake of her career over the years.

Reflecting on her new book, Star of the Show: My Life on Stage , she said: “You know, I have just been going so fast my whole life.

“And I just start thinking, ‘How in the world did I even have a life? How did I even get it done?’ I really realised when I was putting this book together just how much I had sacrificed in my life.

"I never had children, so at least I didn’t have a guilty feeling. I’m thankful that I got to see my dreams come true.”