How is Dolly Parton reflecting on her legacy as she nears 80?

As she celebrates the release of her latest book, Star of the Show: My Life on Stage, Dolly Parton is opening up about the milestones, lessons, and sacrifices that have defined her seven-decade career. Speaking with PEOPLE, the 79-year-old icon reflected on her lifelong hustle, acknowledging how her relentless drive shaped both her success and personal choices. Looking back, she admits the process of writing the book made her truly grasp the magnitude of her journey, from chasing dreams to understanding the trade-offs that came with them.

Dolly Parton keeps her spirit high as she looks ahead to a new chapter

Dolly Parton may have been forced to press the pause button this autumn. The country‑music icon isn't about to let a kidney‑stone infection keep her sidelined for good. Weeks after she scrambled to postpone a string of concerts because of the bout, she's already pivoting toward what comes next, injecting her trademark humor, steely grit and boundless optimism into the next ten years of her career, as reported by PEOPLE. In the same interview, she said:

"You know, I have just been going so fast my whole life. And I just start thinking, ‘How in the world did I even have a life? How did I even get it done?’ I really realized when I was putting this book together just how much I had sacrificed in my life. I never had children, so at least I didn't have a guilty feeling. I'm thankful that I got to see my dreams come true... People say, ‘Well, you’re going to be 80 years old.’ Well, so what? Look at all I’ve done in 80 years. I feel like I’m just getting started."

She continued:

"I know that sounds stupid, but unless my health gives way, which right now I seem to be doing fine . . . I think there's a lot to be said about age. If you allow yourself to get old, you will. I say, 'I ain't got time to get old!' I ain’t got time to dwell on that. That's not what I'm thinking about."

Now edging toward her birthday, Parton stands as a living tableau of perseverance, a lifetime spent tearing down walls and reshaping the definition of what it means to be a woman in the entertainment world. Born in the backroads of Tennessee, where a dad's tireless work ethic and a mom's creative fire lit the fuse of her earliest ambitions she later burst onto the scene with Porter Wagoner and delivered a run of indelible hits, Jolene and Coat of Many Colors, among them, that locked her in the pantheon of country music a journey that has forever been driven by raw determination. She said (via PEOPLE):

"I knew I had to keep going. I couldn't be Porter's girl singer forever because God had a bigger purpose for me, and I had bigger dreams of my own... You have to grow into things, and you have to grow out of things; that's how I handled my career. I needed to try things. A lot of people think because you're a girl, you don’t always know what you're doing. I don't care about what other people are doing... I'm a star to everybody but me. I’m just a working girl. I always just say that I'm a workhorse that looks like a show horse..."

She blazed a trail in a field still dominated by men, slipping into pop and film as if it came naturally and has risen to become one of the artists ever, over 100 million albums sold, 25 No. 1 singles and 11 Grammys to her credit. After the heartbreak of losing her husband, Carl Dean, this year and pushing her Las Vegas residency out to 2026, Parton's spirit remains unshaken; she tells fans she's healthy, upbeat and eager to step back onto the stage.

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