Does Dolly Parton have children?

The U.S. has its share of sweethearts. We’ve seen Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, and Debbie Reynolds all enjoy the honor of being America’s most-loved faces. However, there is only one celebrity who is wholly adored across all generations — and that’s none other than Dolly Parton.

Considered a national treasure, Dolly is an icon to many of the artists we enjoy listening to today. From her legendary country music career to her humanitarian work, Parton has long served as an inspiration to both celebrities and us commoners. While we know much about her life through her song lyrics (we’ll always hold a grudge against Jolene), many aspects of the singer’s personal life remain a mystery for less attentive eyes, so let’s uncover one of the many questions surrounding her life.

How many children does Dolly Parton have?

Dolly Parton has no children, and neither she nor her husband regrets their decision. In an interview with The Guardian, the singer admitted that when she and Carl Dean first got married, they often considered having kids, but it simply wasn’t meant to be — though she doesn’t regret the choice.

“My husband and I, when we first got married, thought about what our kids might look like. Would they be tall, because he’s tall? Or would they be little squats like me?” she said. “If we’d had a girl, we were going to call her Carla… Anyway, we talked about it and dreamed about it, but it wasn’t meant to be. Now that we’re older, we’re glad.”

The decision not to have children did not come lightly to Parton, though. “When you’re a young couple, you think you’re going to have kids, but it just wasn’t a burning desire for me,” she told Saga Magazine. “I had my career, my music, and I was traveling. If I’d had kids, I would have stayed at home with them. I’m sure I would have worried myself to death about them.”

In the same interview, she doubled down on her concern about bringing a child into the modern world, saying she would “hate to be raising a child in this world right now” due to “everything that’s going on.” Beyond her personal decision, another factor that may have influenced her choice not to have children was her health.

In 1982, at the age of 34, Parton collapsed on stage due to severe pain. She was later diagnosed with endometriosis, which led to a partial hysterectomy in 1984. This took a significant toll on her physically and emotionally, with the singer admitting in her memoir Dolly on Dolly that she “went through a dark time until I made myself snap out of it.”

Despite not having biological children, Parton isn’t entirely childless. In 1992, when Billy Ray Cyrus announced the birth of his daughter, Miley Cyrus, he immediately asked Dolly to be her godmother. “We just became good friends because he’s a Kentucky boy, and I’m from Tennessee,” she told Sirius XM’s The Howard Stern Show. “He said, ‘We’re having a girl, and you’ve got to be her godmother!'”

This role certainly resonates deeply with Parton, who is extremely close to Miley, often performing with her on stage. In 2020, Parton told Oprah Winfrey that she believes even “God didn’t mean” for her to have children “so everybody’s kids could be” hers — and it’s clear she’s referring to her beloved goddaughter.