Dolly Parton Skips Dollywood Opening on Doctor’s Orders, Appears by Video

Dolly Parton did not make the opening of NightFlight Expedition at Dollywood on Friday, but she still showed up in the way circumstances allowed. With initial reports Thursday night saying she would miss the Pigeon Forge event, Parton appeared virtually at the morning unveiling and told attendees why.

“My Nashville doctor clipped my wings,” she said in a video posted by the Knoxville News Sentinel, wearing a pair of sparkly wings. She explained that recent health issues have included dizziness and dehydration, and that her doctor said she could not travel this week. “I like to keep all of you in the loop like I said I would, on everything,” she added.

The absence fits a pattern of public health updates from Parton. In May, she described recurring kidney stones and said her immune and digestive systems had been “out of whack” over the past few years. She has missed some appearances but still attended the opening of Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop in Cornersville in June.

Her schedule remains partly uncertain. Parton is set to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 Americana Honors & Awards in Nashville via video message in September. It is not yet clear whether she will travel to New York for the Jan. 19 Broadway opening of A True Original Musical at the St. James Theater, which falls on her 81st birthday.