Dolly Parton says she doesn’t regret not becoming a mother.
“I haven’t missed it like I thought I might,” the country legend, 77, told Saga Magazine for its January issue. “When you’re a young couple, you think you’re going to have kids, but it just wasn’t one of those burning things for me. I had my career and my music and I was traveling.”
Parton added that she’d be concerned about raising a child today, given the current state of the world.
“If I’d had kids, I’d have stayed home with them, I’m sure, and worried myself to death about them,” she explained. “With everything that’s going on, I’d hate to be bringing a child into this world right now.”
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Dolly Parton says she doesn’t regret not being a mother. (Ian Gavan/Getty Images)
But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel connected to children. Along with her great-nieces and great-nephews for whom she plays “Granny Claus” in a Santa suit each Christmas, the “Jolene” singer has also gifted more than 220 million books to children around the world through her Imagination Library initiative launched in 1995.
“I always say God didn’t let me have children so that all kids could be mine,” she told the magazine.
The 77-year-old has been married to her husband Carl Thomas Dean since 1966.
Parton said while their first wedding was subdued, she finally got her dream wedding for their 50th anniversary.
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Dolly Parton meeting with kids in South Yorkshire, England, in 2007 in connection to her Imagination Library program. (Pool/Getty Images)
“I wore a beautiful flowing ivory gown and Carl was so handsome in his suit,” she reminisced. “I almost put some of the pictures in the book [“Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones”], but I wanted to keep some things private.”
Parton also admits that she’s “not much for exercise” and does “just enough to get by,” adding that she’s not opposed to plastic surgery.
Dolly Parton is close with all her grandnieces and nephews, including Liam Rauhoff, who joined her in her 2022 Christmas special “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas.” (Katherine Bomboy/NBC via Getty Images)
“If something is bagging, sagging or dragging, I’ll tuck it, suck it or pluck it,” she joked.
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She says she’s only regretted a procedure on occasion.
“Every now and then you’ll get a hematoma, or sometimes with fillers and Botox you can get too much and have to wait till the swelling goes down to look normal again,” she said. “It means that instead of being back at work in two weeks, it’s a month.”
Parton also addressed not being able to take up Kate Middleton on her invitation to tea while she was in London last summer.
“I only had one full day and I did not have a second to do anything else besides work,” she explained. “But make sure people know I didn’t turn the invitation down. I was honored and flattered that she even asked me.”
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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee noted that both she and the Princess of Wales love children.
“So maybe that’s what we can talk about when we do have tea,” she suggested. “I think she’s adorable and I hope someday to be able to sit down and have a good conversation with her.”
Parton did meet the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1977 at the Royal Variety Performance.
Elton John performed with Dolly Parton on her first rock album. (Scott Gries/Getty Images)
“Oh, I was real happy to meet her,” she said, “but I was so afraid I was going to make a mistake curtseying or saying the wrong thing. But she was so sweet and down-home – just very warm and very generous.”
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The “I Will Always Love You” singer, who promises she “can’t ever imagine retiring,” recently came out with a new record – her first rock album, which includes guest artists like Paul McCartney, Elton John and goddaughter Miley Cyrus.
“I think people are going to be surprised when they hear me do rock ’n’ roll,” she told the magazine.
Reps for Parton didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.