Dolly Parton Admitted Porter Wagoner’s Temper ‘Scared the S***’ Out of Her
Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner spent years working together as musical collaborators. Her career reached new heights after she appeared on his television show. While they showed off a friendly rapport to their fans, their relationship was more tumultuous behind the scenes. Parton admitted Wagoner’s temper frightened her.
Dolly Parton admitted Porter Wagoner’s temper frightened her
After years on Wagoner’s show, Parton began to crave more independence as an artist. She said Wagoner demanded sole creative control despite what she was bringing to the partnership. They began to clash frequently, and those around them said their arguments could get volatile. Parton admitted that Wagoner frightened her.
“He’s like my dad,” she said, per the book Ain’t Nobody’s Fool by Martha Ackmann. “I love my dad, but I was afraid of him.”
Wagoner admitted to jumping to anger quickly.
“I’ve got one of the worst tempers a person could have,” he said.
Wagoner reportedly knocked things over and kicked furniture when he was angry. Parton admitted it frightened her when he got this way.
“He scared the s*** out of me all the time,” she said.
Their arguments sometimes got so vicious that people could reportedly hear them from a block away.
Dolly Parton said her fights with Porter Wagoner got worse when they got personal
While many of Parton and Wagoner’s fights were over their music careers, Parton admitted things got ugly when they started talking about personal matters.
“We just got to where we argued and quarreled about personal things,” she said in 1978, per the book Dolly on Dolly. “Things we had no business quarreling and arguing about. It was beginning to tarnish a really good relationship.”
Still, she said she felt she played a role in their disagreements.
“We didn’t get along very well, but no more his fault than mine,” she said. “We were just a lot alike. Both ambitious. I wanted to do things my way and he wanted to do things his way.”
Parton left Wagoner’s show in 1974. They continued to work together for a time after this, though.
She admitted that working together wasn’t good for either of them
Parton said she didn’t like fighting with anyone, Wagoner included. She believed he seemed to enjoy disagreements, though.
“I usually try not to argue and fight,” she wrote. “It’s truly not my nature, and it makes me very nervous. Even as a kid, I would cry at being scolded, or even when given a sour look. Porter liked to quarrel and argue and shout. He did it with most people. I don’t think he really meant any harm by it. It was just his way. He especially seemed to enjoy fighting with me, though, and after a while I started to get into it myself.”
She felt that they were turning their demons on each other.
“It was a great lesson in patience, tolerance, acceptance, love, and especially forgiveness as we dealt with greed, spite, possessiveness, jealousy, fear—even hate at times,” she wrote. “The former being angels, and the latter being demons, I think of Porter as one of the most important angels in my life, even with all of his demons. I have enough of my own demons to wrestle with, as we all do. We certainly were not shy about turning our demons loose on each other at any given moment.”
Despite all their problems, Parton and Wagoner got back on good terms before his death.
