Dolly Parton interview, Ireland 2002

Dolly Parton on her humble beginnings, her distinctive image and the secret to a successful marriage.

Country and bluegrass singer Dolly Parton tells Pat Kenny about growing up on a farm in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, in a family of six girls and six boys.

We were dirt poor, but most people back there were poor.

As her family were deeply religious, her grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher, the young Dolly was not encouraged to wear makeup, dye her hair or wear tight clothing. But when she reached 15 years of age and had some money of her own, Dolly could afford to change her look, opting for a country girl’s idea of glamour.

Hopefully people know that I’m totally real, I just look totally artificial.

She is open about having plastic surgery and feels it is her responsibility to maintain her looks.

If I see something dragging, sagging and bagging, I just go fix it.

While a number of her siblings are also talented singers and songwriters, Dolly believes it is her outgoing personality that lead her to get where she is today.

Determined to be a star, the day after Dolly graduated from high school in 1964, she caught a bus to Nashville, Tennessee. It was here she met her husband Carl Thomas Dean. After a two year courtship the couple married in 1966 and have been together ever since. She reveals her secret to a long and successful marriage.

This episode of ‘The Late Late Show’ was broadcast on 4 October 2002.