Dolly Parton Estate Sues Late Star’s Nephew Over Violent Threats: ‘I’m a Killer’
Dolly Parton performs onstage during MusiCares Person of the Year honoring Dolly Parton at Los Angeles Convention Center on February 8, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Less than a month after Dolly Parton’s death, her estate is already embroiled in a legal battle.
Parton’s estate is suing the late singer’s nephew Bryan Seaver, who served as the icon’s head of security and announced her death in an Instagram video on Aug. 25. The Tuesday (Sept. 22) lawsuit, obtained by Billboard, alleges that Seaver has been using threats of violence to try to extort money from Parton’s estate since she died.
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The lawsuit is being leveled by She’s Alive LLC, a company set up by Parton before her death to handle her posthumous finances and business affairs. It’s run by Parton’s longtime manager, Danny Nozell.
The estate alleges that Seaver, who has a military background, became “emboldened” by Parton’s death and sought to extract money from his aunt’s coffers. Seaver allegedly began making increasingly violent threats in writing, screenshots of which are attached to the court papers.
“I’m a killer,” Seaver allegedly wrote to one of Parton’s attorneys. In a text message to Seaver, he allegedly wrote, “I’m going to spend the next times I have on earth ratf—king anyone that has ever betrayed my family.”
“I’m literally an international arms dealer and mercenary,” reads another alleged message from Seaver to Nozell. “All I do is warfare. Everyone needs to be worried about what I might do.”
According to the lawsuit, Seaver was fired from his security job on Wednesday (Sept. 16) due to this behavior. But Parton’s estate says it still needs protection from the courts, and it’s seeking a restraining order that would require Seaver to stay at least 1,000 feet away from all team members.
“Mr. Seaver has been relentless,” reads the lawsuit. “These were not ordinary workplace disputes or heated words; they were deliberate threats from a self-proclaimed heavily armed, former security operative with a military-contractor background. Many of [Parton’s staff members] are now afraid to come to work or have resigned entirely because they do not feel safe.”
Seaver did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit.
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