Dolly Parton Admitted She Was ‘No Picnic’ to Live With Before Her ‘Affair of the Heart’ Ended

In the early 1980s, Dolly Parton became wrapped up with her band leader in what she would later call an “affair of the heart.” She said that the end of her relationship with Gregg Perry shattered her. It didn’t help that she’d been going through a difficult time even before this. Perry decided to leave a project, and Parton admitted this might have had something to do with her mood at the time. 

Dolly Parton spoke about the period before her ‘affair of the heart’ ended

In 1982, Parton starred in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. While she enjoyed working on her first film, 9 to 5, the musical was more of a struggle. She dealt with health problems and professional complications while filming, which she admitted wore on her usually sunny disposition. 

During this time, Parton was working with Perry on the soundtrack. They had an extremely close relationship that Parton described as an emotional affair. Perry decided to drop out of the project, which Parton said could have been partially her fault.

“It was not a fun project for anybody involved,” she wrote in 1994, per the book Dolly on Dolly. “Gregg quit altogether. He told me he couldn’t take the pressure and the B.S. of the business anymore. The joy had gone out of it for him, and I’m sure that I was no picnic to live with at that time.”

She said Perry’s exit only added to her woes.

“My heart was shattered in the beginning of the year, not by a romance, but by an ‘affair of the heart,’” she said. “And it about killed me.”

While Parton has never gone into too much detail about Perry, she did admit what they had between them was “love.”