Dolly Parton’s Sister Reveals Why Family Is Keeping Type of Cancer Private

Dolly Parton‘s sister, Stella Parton, is reflecting on the late singer-songwriter choosing to keep her battle with cancer private and her family’s choice not to disclose the type of cancer.

While Stella Parton echoed what other relatives have said about Dolly Parton not wanting to share her cancer diagnosis publicly because she didn’t want to worry her fans, she added, in an interview with Gayle King that aired on CBS Mornings Thursday, that the family is also choosing not to share what kind of cancer Dolly Parton was battling because they got the sense Dolly Parton wanted to keep it private.

“Well that was her business,” Stella Parton said. When King asked if Dolly Parton had asked the family to not disclose the type of cancer, Stella Parton clarified, “No, but she didn’t tell us that we could say so. … It’s not my business to tell her business.”

Dolly Parton died at the age of 80 on Aug. 25 after unspecified health struggles that her reps later said was a “brief battle with cancer.”

King also asked Stella Parton about Dolly’s other sister Freida Parton’s Facebook post last fall that said she was “up all night praying” for Dolly Parton, which sparked concern among Dolly Parton’s fans that her health was worth than it seemed. After Freida’s post and Dolly Parton canceling a couple of high-profile public appearances last fall, she took to Instagram to reassure fans that she “ain’t dead yet.”

In a video filmed on the set of a commercial for the Grand Ole Opry, Dolly Parton said in part “I’m not ready to die yet. I don’t think God is through with me, and I ain’t done working. So I love you for caring and keep praying for me.”

Stella Parton said that Dolly Parton probably was upset with Freida Parton for what she posted. (Freida Parton later clarified her remarks and said she didn’t want to “scare anyone.”)

“I think Dolly got on to Freda about that. I don’t know ’cause I haven’t asked Freda because it was very touchy about all that,” Stella Parton said. “So I didn’t want to hurt Freda’s feelings and I didn’t want to mention it to Dolly but I’m pretty sure Dolly said, ‘You’re going to … pipe down.’ Because that was the first time people thought, ‘Oh.’ And she knew that Freda was just upset and hurt, but she thought, ‘Don’t be telling my situation … Freda don’t be spilling my business.'”

While there has been an outpouring of public mourning for Parton since she died, Stella Parton shared that she hadn’t “heard from anybody in Nashville.”

“I haven’t had one condolence from anyone I know, any entertainers that I know, any condolence — not one,” Stella Parton said in a revelation that surprised King and later fellow CBS Mornings anchor Norah O’Donnell, who returned to the morning show this week. “I explain it because I’m assuming it might be because of my political activism on social media. I don’t know.”

King tried to press further about the famously apolitical Dolly Parton’s political beliefs but Stella Parton knew to keep those to herself.

“We never knew her political views,” King offered, to which Stella Parton replied, “She had them.”
King added, “What were they Stella?”

“I’m not telling,” she said.

King later tried again: “Did Dolly share your views, Stella?”

Stella replied, “I would never talk about that. You think you’re so clever, don’t you Gayle?”

When asked why Dolly Parton kept her political beliefs to herself, Stella Parton had a quick response that echoes what a number of commentators have said since Parton died: She’s a “good business woman.”