Dolly Parton Talks About Her Tattoos

There are very few celebrities who seem to be universally beloved. Even the most treasured of our Hollywood icons seem to have a small minority of people who live to hate them. Yet, there is one who rises above all. Every person who has a soul loves Dolly Parton.

There’s something about Parton that everybody can connect to, whether it’s her music, her infectious laugh or the way that she broke through every glass ceiling put in her way. So when we finally got confirmation that she was tattooed a couple of weeks ago, we were thrilled. 

Now, in the final episode of “Dolly Parton’s America,” the acclaimed podcast by Jad Abumrad and WNYC Studios, Parton talks about her tattoos in a little more detail. 

“I’m not tattooed all over like a bike woman or anything,” Parton says. “I do have a few. They’re very delicate, I don’t have dark ones, they’re all pastels.”

Some of the tattoos that Parton has gotten over the year include butterflies (naturally), some lace and little bows. In other words, tattoos that seem like they’d be a natural fit for her bubbly persona. It’s when she explains the reasons behind the ink that things get a little more interesting. 

“They’re not meant to be tattoos for the sake of tattoos,” Parton explains. “I’m very fair skinned so when I have any kind of surgery or any kind of scarring, it gets discolored. So I when I first started getting a few little things done, it was to cover up some scarring.”

There’s something really refreshing to hear about Parton’s attitude towards her tattoos, especially when compared to the way celebrities tend to get inked these days. She’s not flashing them around on social media, she’s not trying to force her way into a news cycle or make any sort of statement. Parton simply didn’t like the way scars looked on her body and did something about it, not for anybody else, but for herself. 

“Dolly Parton’s America” has been quite an interesting look into just what makes us love the country music icon so much, we highly recommend giving it a listen.