Porter Wagoner Said People Should ‘Never Trust’ Dolly Parton With ‘Anything’
Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton worked together for years, but he told people they shouldn’t trust her. After Parton left her partnership with Wagoner behind to pursue her solo career, his feelings toward her soured considerably. He spoke harshly about her to the press and warned people not to trust her.
Porter Wagoner said Dolly Parton was not trustworthy
Parton and Wagoner admitted to fighting frequently while they worked together. He claimed he fired her because he no longer wanted the trouble.
“I’m not bitter because Dolly left my show in any sense … I was just disappointed to find out she’s not made of what I thought she was,” he told The Tennessean, per the book Dolly on Dolly. “To me, Dolly Parton is the kind of person I would never trust with anything of mine. I mean, her family, her own blood, she would turn her back on to help herself.”
Wagoner said he was opposed to this type of behavior.
“I’m not that kind of person,” he said. “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.”
Porter Wagoner said the way Dolly Parton left him was terrible
While Wagoner claimed he fired Parton, he also said the way she left him was terribly unfair to him. He felt betrayed.
“It was the way the move was done, the manner in which it was done that was so wrong,” he said in the book Dolly by Alanna Nash. “Because at each meeting that we would have with RCA, or with the record execs who were talking about directing Dolly’s career more toward the pop market, I never failed to mention at any time that if the production of her records was short in any way, I would be happy to work with or step aside and let anyone else get involved who they thought was better qualified. And even with this happening, the entire move was done behind my back and with her and RCA.”
He believed he put more time into Parton’s career than his own, making her decision to leave seem “underhanded” to him.
She said his words were unfair to her
Parton said she left her partnership with Wagoner in order to gain more control over her career. She said his words were deeply offensive to her and her family.
“I won’t put myself on his level,” she said in reference to his comments. “I will say that it was unfair and untrue and that’s all I’ll say … It kills you when somebody tells things that just aren’t true. It just killed my daddy, it was just so bitter and untrue.”
Still, she didn’t want to go very far into detail about her problems with Wagoner.
“But I really don’t care to discuss it if you wouldn’t mind,” she said. “I could say a lot of things, but I’m a more considerate person on that level. I don’t think I have to slander people to be accepted.”
Though they were on chilly terms for years, Parton forgave him before his death.
