Dolly Parton Said People Didn’t Take Her Seriously Because of Her Relationship With Porter Wagoner

Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner worked together for seven years on The Porter Wagoner Show. While they had a contentious relationship, they were able to remain friendly onstage and in front of the cameras. As a result, some viewers believed they were in a romantic relationship. Parton realized this wasn’t always good for her career.

Dolly Parton didn’t think people respected her for her relationship with Porter Wagoner 

Even before Parton joined the show, Wagoner acknowledged that the pair of them would likely face affair rumors. He was correct. Parton was married, but people began to believe she and Wagoner were romantically involved. 

“With any romantic duet, people always think the singers are having an affair,” wrote Parton in the book, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics. “Country fans especially assume that. And when you work that closely with someone, you do have a relationship. And it is based in passion. You have to experience emotions if you’re going to sing a song like ‘Lost Forever in Your Kiss.’ You’re living with these people, day in and day out.”

She believed this was much worse for her reputation than Wagoner’s.

“[People thought] I was Porter’s whore or something,” she said, per the book Ain’t Nobody’s Fool by Martha Ackmann. “They didn’t take me seriously.”

While Parton insisted her relationship with Wagoner was only ever platonic, she acknowledged that he might have been in love with her.