Dolly Parton Revealed the Truth Behind Her Flirty Relationship With Johnny Carson
Dolly Parton’s appearances on Johnny Carson’s show always featured some pretty blatant flirting. Parton was married for nearly the entirety of her professional music career, and Carson had four wives over the course of his life. Still, their banter showed a solid connection between them. Parton cleared up some of the presumptions about her relationship with the longtime talk show host.
Dolly Parton and Johnny Carson had a flirtatious relationship
Early in her career, Parton admitted that questions and jokes about her body embarrassed her greatly. As time went on, though, she started to joke along, as evidenced by an exchange on The Tonight Show. After Carson asked her if people back home in Tennessee described her as “healthy,” Parton turned the attention to her chest.
“Healthy, I guess … bosomy,” she told him, per the book Dolly on Dolly. “Well, I’ve always been pretty well blessed. People are always askin’ if they’re real and this and that.”
Carson told Parton he’d never ask that, but Parton still confirmed that they were her real breasts.
“I have certain guidelines on my show,” he told her, “but I would give about a year’s pay to peek under there!”
Many of their exchanges were similarly flirtatious.
Dolly Parton spoke about the true nature of her relationship with Johnny Carson
Parton said she loved going on Carson’s show and telling him white lies.
“I pull people’s legs. Yeah, I’m full of bull,” she said. “But if it’s something that matters and if it’s something serious, then I give you a very honest answer. Sometimes I like to kid people just to see if they’ll know or pick up on it. I usually won’t let it go all that far either if I see they really fell for it. I’m always doing it to Johnny Carson. When I do Johnny’s show, I’m always tellin’ him some rigmarole and he really believes me, like some people do.”
Parton said she liked Carson, but people sometimes took their flirty exchanges too seriously. They only ever saw each other when she appeared on his show. There was nothing more serious going on behind the scenes.
“Well, we like each other, but, you know, I don’t know him except on the panel and when they go into commercials,” she said. “We talk at the panel. I’ve never seen him otherwise. People think we’re like these long, long friends.”
She admitted she always loved late-night hosts
Carson is far from the only late-night host with whom Parton had an easy rapport. She said she has always gotten along well with talk show hosts.
“Well, I have a crush on Jimmy Fallon now, but I’m big now, I can’t excuse myself on that,” she joked to W Magazine. “I think he is precious. He’s so funny. We get along so good, and sometimes you never know who you’re going to connect with, and I’ve always had really good luck with late-night guys.”
She believed this came down to the fact that her personality was a good fit for the late-night format.
“I always had a nice relationship with David Letterman, with Johnny Carson,” she said, adding, “I guess it’s something about late-night people that kind of hits my fancy, and I hit theirs somehow. I guess it’s cause you feel like you can be more free late at night. You don’t have to worry about what you say.”
