Dolly Parton says she is going through some 'hard times' with her health

Dolly Parton says she is going through some "hard times with my health”.

The 80-year-old singer /songwriter admitted she is currently dealing with some “health issues” that she ignored when she was caring for her late husband Carl Thomas Dean, who died in March 2025 at age 82.

She told PEOPLE: “I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl.”

However, Dolly assured fans that she has been through times of ill-health before, noting that there was a period in the early 1980s when she was “down for several months with female issues.”

She explained: “It’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health. But I think because we live in a 24/7 world with social media, everything gets magnified in ways it wasn’t years ago. I used to joke that I was the Queen of the Tabloids, but now I guess I can say I’m the Queen of Social Media AI! Seriously, though, even though I’m still healin’, I’m still workin’.”

And despite her health concerns, Dolly is determined to show up for her fans, even collaborating with companies who create “avatar performances,” which are in the “early stages of development.”