Little-known reason why Dolly Parton had rarely-seen tattoos hidden beneath her famous sleeves
While Dolly Parton was known for her big hair and bold glamour, the country icon also had a collection of rarely-seen tattoos - and she got them for a very specific reason.
With the majority of her famous looks featuring long sleeves, fans rarely got to see the tattoos the star had inked.
But speaking with PEOPLE in 2020, the singer admitted: "I do have some tattoos, that’s true. But they’re tasteful. I’m not a tattoo girl."
In fact, unlike many, Parton didn't get tattoos for the aesthetic. Instead, she got them to cover up a number of scars on her arms.
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Parton told Vanity Fair in 2017: "I don’t really like to make a big to-do of the tattoos because people make such a big damn deal over every little thing.
"But most of the tattoos, when I first started, I was covering up some scars that I had, 'cause I have a tendency to have keloid scar tissue, and I have a tendency where if I have any kind of scars anywhere then they kind of have a purple tinge that I can never get rid of."
The 'Jolene' hitmaker added: "So mine are all pastels, what few that I have, and they’re meant to cover some scars. I’m not trying to make some big, bold statement."
Prior to her death aged 80, Parton also opened up about the design choices she made, joking that her look is far from that of a 'biker chick'.
She explained: "My tattoos are pretty, they’re artful and they usually started out to cover some scar, not to make a big statement."
Parton noted that her collection of tattoos included butterflies, ribbons, bows, and more.
Opening up about her butterfly 'symbol', she told W Magazine in 2021: "Butterflies don’t sting, they don’t bite, and they are so beautiful.
"And I just kind of related to them with my own personality. I claimed them as my little symbol."
After launching her Dolly Beauty brand in 2024, the star further opened up about covering a particular scan after having a feeding tube that left an indentation on her side.
"I didn’t like it because I’m so fair that scars turn purple on me," she said.
"I like to make positives out of negatives. I had a little beehive tattooed over it - a little yellow-and-brown beehive with a tiny little bee on top of the hive. The mouth of it is that little sinkhole."
And despite being married to her late husband, Carl Dean, for 60 years, she surprisingly never had a tattoo dedicated to their relationship.
Speaking on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 1996, she said: "No, he’s tattooed on my heart. Who knows, I may get some more later. I may just have to get covered with tattoos just so everybody could be right!"
Who was Dolly Parton's husband, Carl Dean?
Despite being married for 58 years, Dolly Parton rarely lifted the lid on her marriage to Carl Dean, who died in 2025.
The pair met in Nashville in 1964, when Parton had just moved there. She recalled to Interview Magazine in 1984: "I graduated on a Friday night, went to Nashville on a Saturday morning with dirty clothes and I went to a Laundromat looking for anything but love.
"I had just left two boyfriends back home and I wasn’t looking to get involved because I had gone to Nashville to really get started in the business. I met him at the Why Washy and he’s been wishy washy ever since."
Dean previously admitted of Parton: "My first thought was 'I'm gonna marry that girl'. My second thought was, 'Lord she’s good lookin'."
After dating for two years, Parton and Dean tied the knot - despite Parton's record label at the time not wanting her to get married over fears of it having a negative impact on her career.
Dean, who owned and operated his own asphalt-paving and road-building business, was always incredibly supportive of his wife's career, with Parton telling the New York Times that he 'never tried to make me give it up'.
He also inspired many of Parton's hit tracks - 'Jolene' was partly based on a bank teller who once flirted with him, and love songs 'From Here to the Moon and Back', 'Forever Love' and 'Say You'll Be Mine' were inspired by their romance.
Despite appearing on the cover of her album My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy, Dean was a notoriously private person and he very rarely was seen in public with his wife.
Parton respected his need for privacy and she never expected him to show up to public events or concerts, with her admitting that 'he loves to hear the things I do' while she also 'loves to hear the things he does'.
The couple's dynamic clearly worked well for them, as they were married for 58 years up until Dean's death at the age of 82 in 2025.
"Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years," Parton said when his death was announced.
Topics: Dolly Parton, Celebrity, Beauty, US News
Mia Williams