Inside The Lavish Life Of Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton is as fabulous as they come. The undisputed queen of country music, Parton has won Grammy Awards, written number one hits, toured the world, crossed genres, and broken barriers all while looking incredible. She has the respect of her peers, has been cited as an influence by multiple modern artists, and is still making music today. Parton has a close relationship with Miley Cyrus and was even featured on multiple songs on Beyoncé's 2024 country album "Cowboy Carter." She's had an unparalleled impact on today's music landscape.
Parton is also inspiring as a person. A true rags-to-riches story, Parton escaped from poverty to become one of the best-selling country artists of all time. She knows her worth, and she won't stand for anything less. The same is true in her personal life.
With all that she's gained monetarily, Parton has been able to live the high life, and it's just as glamorous behind the curtain as her outward appearance. There may be many false stories swirling around about Dolly Parton, but if there's one thing that's objectively true, the music legend leads a lavish life.
Dolly Parton has called some beautiful places home
Dolly Parton went from living in a one-room cabin in the Smoky Mountains as a child to owning multiple stunning properties across the United States. In 2022, Parton sold a home she owned in Tennessee for $849,000, which was far more than she originally paid for it. Though a modest price for a house owned by a celebrity, it was still worth well over the average price of a home in the United States. But to prove that Parton has owned some swankier pads, an abode she once owned in Malibu was scooped up for $9.5 million in 2024. Though Parton didn't get that kind of money for the place, it speaks to the caliber of real estate she's had in her portfolio.
Parton isn't one to boast about the types of homes she's lived in and the amenities she's accustomed to, but others will do it for her. As her former cleaning person said of Parton's former property in Brentwood in an essay for The Henderson Dispatch (via Daily Kos), "The house had three floors with an elevator, a salon, a massage room with a hidden door, a game room complete with the first Dolly Parton pinball machine made." Parton definitely isn't roughing it.
She prefers to fly private
You won't find Dolly Parton in TSA pre-check. "When I do fly, we usually fly private jet. It's really hard doing commercial anymore just because it's so, such a zoo," she said on the "Bobby Bones Show." And in her defense, airports would become significantly more chaotic if she were roaming the terminals. Parton, however, doesn't fly too often because she doesn't like to. As she noted on the radio show, whether it be motion sickness or the inability to get in and out at her leisure, she far prefers traveling by her tour bus. The iconic singer only travels by plane when it's necessary.
When Parton does fly private, she's using someone else's plane, like Bon Jovi's, because she doesn't own one herself. While chartering a plane rather than owning is certainly the more economical option, it's not cheap. For starters, she typically travels by plane only when heading to a destination she can't reach by tour bus, meaning most of her flights are international. In 2014, for example, Parton traveled to Sydney and Glastonbury to perform. Assuming Parton took off from her hometown of Nashville to fly to each of those destinations, and calculating costs based on the lower end of hourly private flight rates, Parton spent around $100,000 at the very least for both of those flights.
Dolly Parton has a wild tour bus
Although Dolly Parton would rather fly private than commercial, her actual preference is not to fly at all. As noted, Parton doesn't like to fly, and whenever she can, she takes her tour bus. Per Parton's manager, Danny Nozell, one of the singer's buses cost around $3 million, but they could be seen as a business expense. Because of the buses, Parton has been able to tour more in the latter half of her career than she otherwise would have. When she toured overseas in 2001, Parton didn't enjoy herself because she was sleeping in a different hotel every night. Now, because of the buses, whether she's across the pond or in the States, Parton doesn't sleep in hotels — she sleeps on her bus. "When you have 60 bags that you have to take into a hotel, sleep the night, and then drag them out at 6am the next day to get to the venue, you are not comfortable, you are not feeling good. And what I did with these buses was give her stability," Nozell said to Music Week about Parton's tour bus life.
Parton's tour bus is quite luxurious. The singer decorated the vehicle, and it's both glamorous and spacious. The bedroom has plenty of pink touches, there's a living room and kitchen area, and there's enough space for Parton to store her wigs and shoes.
She's spent major cash on plastic surgery
Dolly Parton has always been open about her plastic surgery. The singer has had many procedures to look her best, and they're pricey. As Parton has famously said, "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap!" And cost it does. "I just paid a million dollars for [my breasts], and I hope they look like a million dollars, too," she once quipped in an interview, as reported by The New Zealand Herald. Her breast augmentations aren't the only procedures she's had done — she's also had a nose job, a face lift, and gotten various injections. But as Parton will warn, plastic surgery needs to be handled by the right people. "I always say, 'Just find the best doctors,'" Parton said on "The Howard Stern Show." "You've just got to be very careful not to overdo it, 'cause you never know. Any time you go under the knife, you could come out looking not good."
The risk has apparently been worth it to Parton. The singer has admitted to not seeing herself as a natural beauty, and she's taken measures to feel better about her appearance. "I always wanted to be pretty, and I always wanted to be a star, whatever that meant. I wanted to shine; so I created my own look to build my confidence," Parton said to The Star.
Dolly Parton wears a bespoke wardrobe
For all the lavish parts of Dolly Parton's life, there are certain ways she saves. Although she enjoys spending her money, the singer prefers to spend it on what she needs rather than items she finds extraneous. "I'm not the kind of person that will go out and spend, like, three or four thousand dollars on a coat or one outfit," Parton said on an episode of "Skavlan." "As far as my everyday clothes, I'm okay with buying off the rack ... I know I look like a material girl, but I'm really not," Parton added.
The singer did note that she happily spends money on one part of her wardrobe, though: her stage costumes. In fact, Parton is so comfortable spending money on her stage costumes that she has employed a creative director, Steve Summers, to design bespoke pieces for her full-time since 2006. Summers began working for Parton well before 2006, though not full time and not in costumes, because she paid better than other jobs he could find. Summers eventually found his way into production for Parton's performances, and now he designs her stage clothes. As Summers recalled to People, when he first began designing for Parton, she told him, "You don't have to design everything — just make sure it's right." Summers hasn't disclosed his salary or Parton's budget for her wardrobe, but it's safe to assume both are high.
She's got a hefty nail budget
Early in her career, Dolly Parton curated her very own aesthetic, and she's stuck to it. Part of that look is her iconic fake nails. Parton is partial to acrylic nails, and though it's impossible to say how often she gets them redone, it's clear to see from her public appearances she has nail appointments regularly. Because she gets acrylic nails, Parton likely spends at least $50 every time she gets them done, but it could be much more. The amount Parton shells out on nails also depends on whether she has them done when she's just at home, but given that she sleeps in her makeup, she probably keeps her nails manicured at all times, too.
Parton's nails certainly look good, but they also happen to sound good. While killing time on the set of 1980's "9 to 5," she noticed that when she rubbed her nails together, it created an effect that sounded a lot like the click of a typewriter. She ended up working this into the song she wrote and recorded for the movie. "I played my nails, so I have a credit on the back of the album that says 'Nails by Dolly,'" she said on "The Graham Norton Show." The song "9 to 5" earned Parton an Oscar nomination.
Dolly Parton is a big fan of Cadillacs
Dolly Parton doesn't come from much. The music icon grew up in a large family; Parton, her 11 siblings, and her parents shared a one-room house in Sevierville, Tennessee. The family was musical, though, and Parton had big dreams. Before she made it out of poverty, Parton spent a lot of time in her car while she was touring the country in search of a music career. "We'd sleep in the car, that was our room ... my bedroom was the backseat and [Bill's] was the front seat," Parton said in an episode of "Shine On with Reese," as reported by Page Six. "I'd wash my hair in the filling station bathrooms and put makeup on in the side mirror of the car, and that was just how you did it."
These days, Parton still spends quite a bit of time in vehicles, but it's not because she can't afford a house or a hotel room. Parton likes cars, and she's partial to a pricey brand — Cadillac. In fact, Parton's first big purchase after making it big in music was a Cadillac. "I thought, just like the big hair — you can't be country if you ain't got big hair — you can't be country if you don't have a Cadillac," Parton told CBS News. Parton has bought Cadillacs for her family members, too; she kept her mother in a new one every few years until her death.
She spends a fortune on wigs
Dolly Parton's hair always looks good, but you'll never see her wear her own hair. If she is out in public, she's wearing a wig. "I started wearing wigs because I quickly realized that bleaching and teasing my hair every day would cause breakage and not look good. It was handy to have several looks that I could just choose from, and never have a bad hair day," Parton said to Vogue. As for the number in her collection, Parton has revealed she's not certain, but it's at least 365 — one for every day of the year.
While choosing to wear wigs rather than natural hair could be an economical choice — it would save big time on maintenance costs — it's not economical the way Parton does it. Although she has admitted to preferring synthetic wigs that cost around $30 a pop versus hand-made wigs that go for $1,000, her wig budget still adds up. Spending $30 on a wig for each day of the year costs nearly $11,000, and that doesn't include the few thousand she's spent on the high-priced wigs she has for films and other special occasions. But Parton is willing to spend money if it makes her feel good. As she once quipped on X, "I feel glamorous on the inside, so I want to look like it on the outside."
Dolly Parton has her own amusement park
Dolly Parton is so rich she has her own theme park. Of course, Parton doesn't keep Dollywood all to herself — it's for the public and it makes her even richer — but she still had to have enough to make the initial investment. Today, Parton reportedly owns 50% of Dollywood.
The music superstar created the park in an effort to boost the economy around where she grew up in Tennessee. "I always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, that I wanted to come back to my part of the country and do something great, something that would bring a lot of jobs into this area," Parton said to the AP, as reported by Business Insider.
Dollywood has provided a major fiscal boost to the area. Per a 2021 case study conducted by the Tennessee Economic Impact Study, the amusement park, which is located in Pigeon Forge, has an economic impact of $1.8 billion, has created over 23,000 jobs in the area, and employs over 4,000 people. Parton doesn't make it to Dollywood too often, but she's always happy to be there. "We're just proud of everything that we got going, and we'll continue to try to expand and try to always make the people that do come here feel welcome and know that they can bring their kids and friends and just have a great time," Parton told USA Today.
She has multiple people on her payroll
In addition to all the people Dolly Parton employs through Dollywood, she has a handful of individuals on her personal payroll. As noted, she employs Steve Summers to design her stage costumes, but there are a number of others she employs. For many years, one of the people on Parton's staff was a cleaning person. After starting his own cleaning business, Parton hired him without telling him who she was (though it didn't take long for him to figure it out). "For the next two years, Dolly would remain my best client — every Thursday at her Brentwood house from 10-5 and most Tuesdays cleaning the bus, the office or the lake house," he said in an essay for The Henderson Dispatch (via Daily Kos).
What's more, Parton's best friend, Judy Ogle, was brought on as her personal assistant. "I wanted to think, dream, create, sing, write. Judy was fascinated by that part of me. I did the thinking and planning, and she played it out. We made a great pair," Parton said of their partnership in her 1994 memoir "Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business."
Dolly Parton is incredibly philanthropic
Dolly Parton has a lot to give, and she's definitely not stingy with her money. The music legend has always given back to her community and those in need. "I think it's important for everyone to do their share to help their fellow man. This world is so crazy. I don't think we even know what we're doing to each other and to this world," Parton told the AP. Back in the mid-'80s, Parton established The Dollywood Foundation, a charitable organization that helped Tennessee high school students continue their education. She's also established a library as well as the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary in an effort to increase childhood literacy and preserve bald eagles in Tennessee, respectively.
In 2020, Dolly Parton announced that she'd be donating $1 million toward research for a COVID-19 vaccine amid the global pandemic. Though the singer said she wasn't donating the money for attention, she couldn't help but notice she was receiving quite a bit. As for Parton's charitable giving, she doesn't follow a set plan. "I just give from my heart. I never know what I'm going to do or why I'm gonna do it. I just see a need and if I can fill it, then I will," she said.