Dolly Parton Finally Revealed The True Reason Why She’s Always Covering Her Arms

The talented Tennessee sweetheart has pretty much accomplished all the entertainment industry has to offer. But while her road to fame was unlike any other, along the way she may have harbored a secret or two...

Dolly grew up in a musical family along the Great Smoky Mountains, and she’s been writing twangy tunes since childhood. Pre-teen Dolly’s talent took her to places far and wide, too — or at least to Tennessee radio, when she showed off her chops on The Cas Walker Show.

But Dolly has given some of the credit to former songwriting partner and beloved family member Bill Owens for generously guiding her into the music industry. Good ol’ Uncle Bill gave Dolly her first real guitar at the ripe age of eight and helped get her a songwriting contract in Nashville.

Yep, the day after her high school graduation, the not-so-dumb blonde packed a shabby cardboard suitcase full of future anthems and moved to Nashville. It was only a matter of time before she fulfilled her country-born dreams of superstardom.

Dolly sang her way to Nashville’s eminent Music Row, nailing a spot on The Porter Wagoner Show in 1967. She and Wagoner were quite the stars in the early ’70s and were awarded two Country Music Association Awards for Vocal Duo of the Year. Soon enough, though, Dolly went solo.

Then, after winning a bundle of her own CMA Awards, Dolly took her talents to the big screen in 1980’s whimsical satire 9 to 5. Dolly’s vibrant star power — and her on-screen chemistry with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin — skyrocketed her into the mainstream.

Incredibly, Dolly nabbed an Oscar nomination for 9 to 5 — the song sharing the same name as the beloved comedy. But while she charmed her way into the acting world, singing and songwriting proved to be her forever loves.

Today, Dolly is considered rhinestone-studded royalty in the music industry. She’s sold over 100 million records worldwide, snapped up 11 Grammys and nearly as many CMA Awards, and was honored with a deserving induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999. Over the years, though, fans started to notice something about her.

See, with smash hits such as “I Will Always Love You” and “Jolene,” Dolly has accrued several generations of listeners and fans. They’ve seen her perform on both the big and small screens, and they’ve seen her particular tastes in fashion.

Dolly’s fans know she loves campy, eye-popping, country-inspired glitz and glam — not to mention a plethora of rhinestones. But while she’s donned so many memorable looks, there’s been a peculiar detail to every single one of her ensembles for the past few decades...

What is it? Long sleeves. Why is Dolly always sporting lengthy, enveloping sleeves? Though you may be able to catch sight of vintage photos of the star in short sleeves, it’s been years since nearly anyone has seen her bare arms. And we’re not the only ones who’ve noticed.

It was a strange mystery for some time. And for years, fans theorized about what the country darling could be hiding beneath her boundless sleeves. But a couple of other celebrities have assisted in uncovering the secret.

In 2011 Roseanne spilled the beans about what lies under Dolly’s trademark sleeves. She gave Craig Ferguson the inside scoop on his talk show, even admitting that she “shouldn’t even tell this.”

“She showed me,” Roseanne said of Dolly. “She’s got all these awesome tattoos all over her body — no black or blue lines, all like pastel, gorgeous bows all over everything.” Jennifer Saunders, meanwhile, spoke of what she witnessed when she ran into Dolly at an LA restaurant.

The Absolutely Fabulous star said that Dolly revealed her portfolio of stunning tattoo work to Saunders. “They were the most beautiful angels and beautiful butterflies and baskets of flowers in pastel-colored tattoos,” she gushed on the Australian TV show Sunday Night. There was still no hard proof, though.

That still hasn’t stopped fans from looking for evidence. And while Dolly apparently wanted her body art to be kept secret, some observant folks thought they finally found proof of the star’s ink. They claimed to have spotted a butterfly tattoo through Dolly’s somewhat sheer blouse sleeve back in 2006 while she posed with her cherished 9 to 5 co-stars.

Then, in 2012, a red carpet photo of Dolly emerged with what seemed to be part of a rose-tinged tattoo peeking out from her cleavage. When Anderson Cooper pressed her about said photo, however, Dolly insisted that it was a fake.

And when Cooper flat out asked her if she had any tattoos, Dolly said, “I might. But I’m not going to show ’em ’til they catch me at it.” Lately, though, she’s been more relaxed and open about the tat rumors.

Dolly admitted in a 2016 interview with Larry King that she originally got her pastel ink to cover up some keloid scarring. “I have a tendency to scar easily, and I’m so fair-skinned that I stay purple right where I’ve had a scar,” the country star explained.

In 2017 Dolly also told Vanity Fair, “I don’t really like to make a big to-do of [the tattoos] because people make such a big deal over every little thing.” She even defended herself when she spoke with King, insisting she “wouldn’t be a biker chick or anything!” But there’s actually a surprising amount you don’t know about Dolly.

As she grew up poor in Tennessee, the young Dolly couldn’t afford to buy branded make-up. But that didn’t stop her from trying to look her best. Instead, she embarked on some creative improvisation. Lip stain? Well, that could be made out of berries. Dolly also produced a smokey eyeliner look with charred matches and even scented herself with honeysuckle instead of perfume. Talk about ingenuity!

Dolly is definitely a woman of many talents, but her time in TV is perhaps the most surprising achievement of them all. Did you know that the country icon was involved in the making of Buffy The Vampire Slayer? Yep, really! Although she remained uncredited throughout the show’s run, Dolly helped bring the hit horror TV series to screen through her firm Sandollar Productions.

After shooting to success, Dolly eventually earned enough money to purchase her childhood home. And not only that, but she also spent millions of dollars making the property look exactly the way it had when she was young — outdoor toilet included.

Dolly met her husband Carl in the early stages of her career, but that presented her with a big problem. Basically, she needed to hang on to her single girl image for as long as possible. But the loved-up couple didn’t want to wait to tie the knot, so they opted for clandestine nuptials in 1966, in Ringgold, Georgia. The pair managed to keep their marriage hidden for a full 12 months.

Intriguingly, Dolly was the very first one of her relatives to earn her high school diploma — all the way back in 1964, in case you were wondering. But those smarts didn’t lead her on to further study right away. Instead, she left her hometown of Sevierville just a day after turning the tassel. Dolly wanted to kick-start her career in the music industry, you see.

Dolly’s uncle Billy nurtured his niece’s musical talent from a young age. And as it happens, it was that support that led the aspiring star to an early career break. Billy fatefully introduced her to a local man who liked to publicize his businesses on a Tennessee radio show. Thanks to this canny bit of networking, said show would then host Dolly’s first performance in front of a live audience — while she was all of just ten years old!

“I Will Always Love You” remains one of Dolly’s most successful songs — not least because of Whitney Houston’s chart-topping cover of the track. What many fans probably don’t know, however, is that the lyrics were written for Porter Wagoner after he and Dolly ended their long-time musical partnership. That’s quite the tribute.

During the 1990s Revlon met popular demand by producing a range of wigs modeled on Dolly’s locks. Yes, really! And to this day the hairpieces are still sold online. Fancy your own set of blonde beehive curls? Then just try a little digging on eBay...

Was Dolly a Girl Scout? Not quite. The link comes from the fact that members can earn a patch called “Coat of Many Colors” — named after Dolly’s famous 1971 single, of course. The honor is given for thinking about those who are less fortunate and organizing ways to help the poor, and it was created by the Girl Scouts of the Southern Appalachians in collaboration with the country star herself.

In 2009 Dolly was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Texas in Knoxville. The reason? Well, it was for her services to charity and entertainment, natch! And when the star stepped up to the stage, she became only the second person ever to receive such a distinction from the college.

It took Dolly just one night in 1973 to pen songs “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You.” That feat is all the more incredible given that “Jolene” remains one of the most successful and beloved hits for the star as a solo artist. Meanwhile, “I Will Always Love You” is arguably even more iconic thanks to Whitney Houston’s cover.

Dolly has been very open about her relationship with dieting: basically, after years of following all the regimes, she’s not a fan. According to Hello!, she once said, “I tried every diet in the book. I tried eating the book, [and] it tasted better than most of the diets.” Perhaps that’s because food is — alongside men — her greatest vice.

The star’s child literacy charity Dolly’s Imagination Library deservedly earned her the accolade of “Tennessean of the Year” back in 2006. She had originally launched the organization back in 1995 to raise literacy rates among pre-schoolers in her home county in East Tennessee.

The world’s first cloned mammal was a sheep named Dolly after the country icon herself. And that tribute was a bit of a brazen one from the scientists involved in the animal’s creation. How? Well, the sheep was cloned from a mammary gland cell. And it didn’t escape them that Dolly herself has a substantial bust.

In December 2016 Dolly created the “My People Fund” for residents of the Great Smokey Mountain area. That year, the community had been devastated by wildfires that had forced 2,000 people to flee their homes. This act of kindheartedness came on the back of yet another good deed. In November 2016 Dolly awarded a $30,000 college scholarship to a two-year-old who had recently signed up for her literacy program. How can you not love that?

Dolly was so small when she first started writing lyrics that she had to have her mom transcribe the words. And, charmingly, the first-ever tune Dolly composed was about her doll, which had been created from a corn cob. Aww!

Ever since she moved away at 18, Dolly has been determined to help people living in the community she grew up in. And it’s safe to say she’s done that. You see, through her theme park, Dollywood, she employs more people in Sevier County than any other business.

In the mid-’00s, several theme parks participated in “Gay Days” that gave members of the LGBT community and their loved ones safe spaces in which to enjoy all the attractions. And while Dollywood was one of the parks involved in the scheme, not everyone approved. In particular, Dolly received threats to her person from the Ku Klux Klan for her gesture. Naturally, though, she didn’t let the group deter her.

Dolly and her husband celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 2016. That’s right: 50 years of marriage! And the couple marked the special occasion with a private ceremony to renew their vows in Nashville, Tennessee. That’s heartwarming enough by itself, but Carl and Dolly upped the ante even further by selling the photographs of the event at a special charity auction. The money they brought in ultimately went to Dolly’s Imagination Library.

It’s no secret that Dolly was born into extreme poverty. Back in the day, her family lived in a tiny cabin in Tennessee — one without either running water or proper power. And when Dolly came into the world, her father Robert was only able to compensate the doctor attending the birth with a bag of oatmeal. From such humble beginnings are legends born.

Dolly is a busy woman and has to pack a lot into her day. So, she wakes up in the wee small hours of the morning — 3:00 a.m., in fact — to get everything done. Wow! In 2018 Dolly cheerfully told Today, “I go to bed early, but I’m just an early bird. I get more work done between 3:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. than most people all day because it’s quiet, and the energy’s all low-key — except mine.”

It sounds like an urban legend, but it’s true. Dolly once entered a lookalike contest… And lost. In 2009 she revealed all to Robin Roberts, saying, “At a Halloween contest years ago on Santa Monica Boulevard where all the guys were dressed up like me… I just overexaggerated my look and went in and just walked up on stage… I didn’t win. I didn’t even come in close, I don’t think.”

Dolly and Carl may never have had any kids, but the star claims to have no regrets about it. In 2014 she told Billboard that she was very close to her nieces and nephews instead. Dolly also explained, “God didn’t mean for me to have kids so everybody’s kids could be mine.” Adorable.

Dolly may have her own theme park, but she’s not about to try out the rollercoasters herself. She told The New York Times in 2019, “I don’t ride the rides. I never have. I have a tendency to get motion sickness. Also, I’m a little bit chicken. With all my hair I got so much to lose, like my wig or my shoes. I don’t like to get messed up.” Makes sense!

Dolly once got a chance to work with Elvis himself… but she put her principles ahead of all else. You see, the King wanted to create his own version of “I Will Always Love You.” Sounds reasonable, so what was the catch? Well, when Elvis’ famously ruthless manager Colonel Tom Parker called Dolly about the deal, he told her that she would get only half the publishing rights to the cover. Naturally, the savvy businesswoman refused those terms.

Dolly has practically every other award under the sun, so why not a couple of world records as well? Yep, she has two. Dolly can boast of having the “Most Hits on U.S. Hot Country Songs Chart by a Female Artist” and “Most Decades with a Top 20 Hit on the U.S. Hot Country Songs Chart.” Her trophy cabinet must be absolutely heaving.

When Dolly was very young, the singer found herself entranced by a monarch butterfly. The only problem? She followed the colorful insect so far away from her home that she ultimately got lost. Luckily, a cow named Bessie came to the rescue — well, sort of. Basically, Dolly just held onto the animal’s collar and got quite literally dragged back to her family. And despite it all, she still loves butterflies.

Yes, Miley Cyrus learned from the best in the business! Dolly is her unofficial godmother and has been there for her since day one. In 2019 the country icon told Robin Roberts, “[Miley’s] father’s a friend of mine, and when she was born, he said, ‘You just have to be her godmother.’ And I said, ‘I accept.’ We never did do a big ceremony, but I’m so proud of her, love her, and she’s just like one of my own.”

Dolly may have many strings to her bow, but there’s one she prefers above all else. In her 2020 book Songteller, the star declared, “My name is Dolly Parton, and I am a songwriter… If I had to choose just one thing to be, I would choose to be a songwriter.” The singer added that if given the choice she could “happily just sit in [her] house forever, enjoy life and write songs.”

Lots of people have been deeply touched by Dolly’s singing, and that includes Stephen Colbert. Yes, when the star appeared on Colbert’s show in October 2020, she sang a version of “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” that reduced the usually acerbic late-night host to tears. Dolly was unflappable, though, and merely quipped, “I better hush before you cry yourself to death and you can’t finish the show!”

You probably haven’t seen Dolly without makeup, and for good reason: the star keeps a full face on even when she sleeps! In 2019 she told The New York Times, “You never know if you’re going to wreck the [tour] bus, you never know if you’re going to be somewhere in a hotel and there’s going to be a fire. So I leave my makeup on at night and clean my face in the morning.”

Dolly has great respect for the man who raised her. In 2017 she told Maverick, “Daddy was not educated at all, but [he] had horse sense. That’s what we call it in the country, they call it street smart in the cities. That innate knowledge of what to do, what not to do, how to bargain, how to barter... My daddy was great at that. So, I got my business sense from my dad.”

Everyone knows the story of Dolly’s smash hit “Jolene.” But the singer/songwriter based the tale on something that really happened to her — well, pretty much. In 2008 she told the radio show All Things Considered that once a redheaded bank teller had a pretty intense crush on her husband. And although the woman didn’t actually come between Dolly and Carl, that threat of having a man seduced away was the inspiration behind the song.

During a 1980 interview with Roger Ebert, Dolly chatted about her most famous assets. The star was asked, “Do you get bothered by constant references to your bust size?” And she coolly answered, “It don’t bother me so much unless people dwell on it… If someone gets really carried away, well, I sort of pity him. Cause it’s his problem, not mine. Other than that, I’m a good sport. I know some of the best Dolly Parton jokes. I made ’em up myself.”

Growing up, Dolly had a crush on another music legend: Johnny Cash. In 2012 she explained to Nightline that when she first saw her fellow country star, it was “when I first knew about sex appeal — someone striking and made me feel something inside.” Dolly continued, “[Johnny] had this tic when he moved his shoulder… And it was still sexy. It still got to me.”

Dolly loves standing a little taller — which makes sense, as she only comes in at a petite 5 feet! During a 2020 chat with RuPaul for Marie Claire, the star revealed how she adds those extra few inches. Dolly explained, “I actually do wear high heels most of the time. They’re not always as high as the ones I wear for show… I have to wear heels in order to reach my cabinets.” But she doesn’t just do it out of necessity. The singer added, “I always enjoy wearing the shoes too, and I just feel more like me.”

Dolly’s father never got a proper education — which meant in turn that he couldn’t read. And in a 2020 interview with The Irish Times, the musical icon remembered how her dad had been embarrassed by this fact, although she’d had some words of sage advice in return. Dolly claimed that she had explained to her father, “Daddy, there’s a lot of people who can’t read or write. It doesn’t make you any less of a person or any less of a man.” Now, the star is fiercely focused on improving childhood literacy.

Dolly’s always been open about the origins of her glamorous — and sometimes slightly risqué — image. And in October 2020 she retold that tale to Wired. The star revealed that she had based her aesthetic on a lady labeled the “town tramp” back in Tennessee. But while others derided this woman as cheap, the young Dolly was entranced. The star explained, “I thought [that] she was so beautiful, [but] everybody used to say, ‘Oh, she ain’t nothin’ but trash.’ And I used to say, ‘Well, that’s what I’m gonna be when I grow up — trash!’” Dolly added, “But I like to think I’m a little more than that.” Yes, she definitely is.

In 2020 Dolly answered some “most searched questions” about her for Wired’s YouTube channel. And one of them involved her favorite hue. Dolly said, “Well, you know what, my favorite color is a no-color, it’s white. I love to wear white when I’m performing on stage. It just makes me feel like all light and airy.” She looks good in it, too.

Dolly starred alongside actress Lily Tomlin in the movie 9 to 5. Then when Tomlin came out as a lesbian in 2013, the former claimed that she had known all along. Dolly told The Guardian in 2019, “All of us knew Lily was gay for years… I know that her mother was a southern woman and a lot of people don’t accept it, and a lot of people have suffered their whole lives because they can’t be who they are, and I understand that, too.”

Dolly told the BBC in 2016 about where “I’m 16” came from. She said, “[My sister] had a couple of bad relationships and she thought it wasn’t meant for her to have true love. Then all of a sudden, in her 60s, she met someone and they fell in love, and it’s just like they were born again… We said, ‘Look at her, she thinks she’s 16!’ And all of a sudden I heard the song in my head.”

Spirituality is a major part of Dolly’s life. She told Marie Claire in 2020, “Every single day, before I do anything, I wake up and I thank God for the night and ask him to bless the day and to bring all the right things... all the wrong people out of my life, and bring all the right stuff in. And just to guide me, lead me.”

Imagine a world where Dolly Parton was known as “Dolly Dean!” That’s what would have happened if she’d taken the last name of her husband Carl Dean. But the singer does use it in private. “Dolly Parton Dean” is on her passport, for example. She joked to The Guardian in 2014, “Anyway, if I had chosen the name Dolly Dean… I’d have been Double D. Again!”

In 2014 Dolly told Southern Living that she considered the word “hillbilly” to be a compliment rather than an insult to her. She said of her family, “We were just mountain people. We were really redneck, roughneck, hillbilly people. And I’m proud of it. ‘White trash’ I am.” Now that’s pure Dolly.

Back in 1984, Dolly told Interview about her experience filming The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which had come out two years prior. She said, “I loved Burt Reynolds and Jim Nabors and all those people, but at that particular time I was ill, and coming from a Broadway play, we already had everything against us.” She added, “I was happy with the success of it; it was just a hard one to do.”

Dolly’s early life wasn’t easy, and she didn’t have access to some of the things other people took for granted. The singer told journalist Lawrence Grobel in 1978, “My aunt had a [flushing] toilet in the bathroom and we were so fascinated… I was afraid to use it. I just thought it was going to suck us right down. She also had the first television we ever saw, too.” Apparently, that was when Dolly was eight years old!

Someone who’s promoted reading so much must have a favorite book, right? Dolly told Southern Living in 2014 that hers was The Little Engine That Could. She explained that “it’s a great little inspirational book. It really kinda sums me up pretty good.” It is also the first book in her reading program.

Dolly had an interesting story to share with The Guardian in 2019. At the age of 19, she went to New York City for the first time, and a man in “a bad area” started harassing her. So Dolly pulled out a pistol and scared him off, yelling, “If you touch me one more time, you’ve had it!” This incident apparently inspired a scene in Dolly’s film 9 to 5, too.

Carl and Dolly’s love story started in the most unlikely of places. The singer met him at a Why Washy Laundromat on the very first day she arrived in Nashville! In 1984 she joked to Interview, “I met him at the Why Washy and he’s been wishy-washy ever since.”

Dolly Parton has been parodied on Saturday Night Live a few times, but did you know she hosted the show as well? Dolly was the leading lady in April 1989, and she wasn’t afraid to poke fun at herself. One of the sketches on that night was called “Planet of the Enormous Hooters.”

In Dolly’s song “Head Over High Heels” she sings about painting her eyes “like Adele.” And it turns out that the country legend adores her. She told BBC News in 2016, “Everyone loves Adele. With all my little nieces, it's all ‘Adele this’ and ‘Adele that!’” Later on, she was asked who she’d put in a “legends slot” at Glastonbury and answered, “Probably Adele.”

Dollywood celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2010, but not everyone thought the project would get that far. That year the eponymous singer told Entertainment Weekly that “a lot of business people said that I was gonna lose my a** when I launched.” She then joked, in true Dolly style, “And I guess I did! Because did you see some of my pictures from just before I opened the park? I definitely lost some of my a** in the last 25 years!”

During her 2020 Wired interview, Dolly enthused about her all-time favorite food. She said, “Every diet I ever fell off of has been because of a potato. Either French fries, or mashed potatoes, or baked potatoes. Potato, potato, potato! I never met a spud I didn’t like.” She can cook them for herself, too.

In 1978 Dolly shared some of the messier details of her life with journalist Lawrence Grobel. She told him that while growing up she had to share a bed with “three or four” of her siblings, and the younger kids would have accidents at night. Heartrendingly, she added, “That was the only warm thing we knew in the wintertime.”

Dolly isn’t sure about the label “feminist.” She told The Guardian in 2019, “I must be if being a feminist means I’m all for women, yes. But I don’t feel I have to march, hold up a sign or label myself. I think the way I have conducted my life and my business and myself speaks for itself. I don’t think of it as being feminist.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly considering how incredibly famous she is, Dolly Parton doesn’t look herself up on the internet. She told Wired in 2020, “I don’t Google myself because I pretty much know what I’m up to and if I don’t know all I gotta do is pick up a National Enquirer magazine.”

Dolly remembered her high school graduation when she spoke to USA Today in 2020. Everyone stated their ambition, and hers was “I’m going to Nashville to be a star.” After the star said that, “There was a lot of laughter, and it kind of embarrassed me, because to me, that was what I was going to do.” And she did it!