Miley Cyrus shares touching details of her final conversation with 'Aunt Dolly' Parton

Miley Cyrus has offered a deeply personal look into her enduring bond with the late Dolly Parton, reflecting on their poignant final conversation prior to the country music legend’s passing at the age of 80.

Parton, who died on August 25 following a private battle with cancer, held a unique and foundational role in Cyrus’s life.

Beyond serving as a global industry mentor, Parton was Cyrus’s real-life godmother—an affectionate relationship established decades ago through her close professional and personal friendship with Billy Ray Cyrus.

Opening up about the devastating loss, Cyrus shared rare insight into the final exchanges she had with the woman she affectionately called "Aunt Dolly," noting that while their most sacred memories will forever remain private behind the stage, their last discussions centered heavily on "music and metamorphosis."

“Dolly has been the first person that when I get a vinyl printed, that’s the first person I send it to since I’ve been making vinyls, and this time around I’m going to send her a vinyl because I always do,” she said.

“But the time that we talked, which was the last time we would talk, it was actually me telling her about this record because even though we are so different — that’s what made us so perfect for each other is that, and she knew this and I know this; she is like known for the fake, the hair, the makeup and the show of it. But there’s a part of her that is what everyone gravitates towards, [which] is how real she is and how authentic she is.”

Dolly Parton passed away last month at the age of 80 (Ron Davis/Getty Images)

Reflecting on Parton's lifelong mentorship and the creative instincts she instilled, Cyrus explained to Apple Music's Zane Lowe that Parton's parting philosophy was always rooted in emotional honesty and artistic resilience.

"What I know is Dolly would want me to feel it, write a song about it, and then continue on and be strong," Cyrus shared, paying tribute to the icon's pragmatic mountain wisdom. "I have an angel by my side. I always have. I will always love her and want to make her proud."

Their creative and familial bond spanned more than three decades. Parton famously guest-starred as Cyrus’s fictional Aunt Dolly on the Disney Channel phenomenon Hannah Montana in the mid-2000s, later joining Cyrus for show-stopping televised duets of classics like "Jolene" and "Wrecking Ball." Most recently, the pair collaborated on Parton’s chart-topping 2023 rock album, Rockstar.

“There was a time in my life — we hit on it with Hannah — [where] so much of my life was about persona,” the “Flowers” singer added. “And I think a way that I could look at that as you can have a persona and still be who you are is because I had Dolly. Sometimes I call what I do drag because the way that I present myself is just someone that is so different from the person that feeds the tortoise every morning. But again, that person’s inside of me. I just kind of have her off.”

Throughout Cyrus's high-profile artistic evolutions, Parton remained one of her staunchest and most vocal defenders in the entertainment industry, regularly dismissing media scrutiny and praising her goddaughter’s refusal to conform to conventional industry molds.

Parton's passing last month triggered an unprecedented outpouring of global tributes across both the music landscape and international cultural institutions, celebrating not only her seven-decade songwriting legacy but also her monumental philanthropic impact through the Imagination Library.

For Cyrus, however, Parton's loss remains deeply intimate. Emphasizing that Parton's guidance will continue to anchor her upcoming work, Cyrus noted that the lessons her godmother left behind—to transmute hardship into melody and face inevitable life transitions without fear—remain her most enduring inheritance.