Dolly Parton Waited Over a Decade to Respond to Some of Porter Wagoner’s Harshest Criticism
Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner were a powerful duo in country music, but she eventually left the partnership behind in pursuit of a solo career. They’d fought often while working together, and things got worse after they split. Wagoner frequently slammed Parton in the press. She said she didn’t often want to respond. Still, she once remarked on some of his harshest words about it, even though it took over a decade.
Porter Wagoner accused Dolly Parton of living in ‘fairyland’
In 1978, Parton posed on the cover of Playboy. The issue sold well, but some people, including Wagoner, had a problem with it. He didn’t think it was proper for a country singer to pose for the infamous magazine.
“Dolly wants to do everything that is possible for her to do but she lives in a fairy land,” he said in 1978, per the book Dolly on Dolly, adding, “I don’t believe a country girl singer would do things in the manner she’s done them. Like the Playboy thing. Do you think Kitty Wells would do that?”
Over a decade later, Parton responded to Wagoner’s remarks. In a 1991 interview with Vanity Fair, she surprisingly agreed with Wagoner. She didn’t think it was a bad thing for her to divulge from the image of artists like Kitty Wells, though.
“I thought, Well, I guess not. I don’t think Playboy would want Kitty Wells on the cover,” she said. “But it was that kind of mentality: Kitty Wells wouldn’t do that, Loretta Lynn wouldn’t do that. Well, I’m not Loretta Lynn. I’m not Kitty Wells.”
Porter Wagoner insisted he wasn’t bitter that Dolly Parton ended their partnership
Though Wagoner certainly seemed bitter about Parton’s career success, he insisted that this was not the case.
“I’m not bitter because Dolly left my show in any sense,” he said. “I was just disappointed to find out she’s not made of what I thought she was.”
Still, he added that he would never trust Parton again.
“To me, Dolly Parton is the kind of person I would never trust with anything of mine,” he said. “I mean, her family, her own blood, she would turn her back on to help herself. I’m not that kind of person. I don’t care about talkin’ about it ’cause most people would think I’m bitter at Dolly. I’m not bitter at her at all.”
He eventually sued her for $3 million. They settled out of court, reportedly for $1 million.
She said she didn’t want to respond to his criticism
Naturally, Parton received many questions about Wagoner’s public criticism of her. She typically declined to comment.
“I won’t put myself on his level,” she said. “I will say that it was unfair and untrue and that’s all I’ll say.”
She said her family found his remarks hurtful, but she didn’t want to sling insults back at him. Still, she denied that what he said about her was true.
“But I really don’t care to discuss it if you wouldn’t mind. I could say a lot of things, but I’m a more considerate person on that level,” she said. “I don’t think I have to slander people to be accepted.”
