Miley Opens Up About Her Final Conversation With Dolly Parton

Miley will always love Aunt Dolly. In a Sept. 17 interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, the singer opened up about her final conversation with her late godmother Dolly Parton, who died in August after a brief battle with cancer. And while she kept her promise from her Instagram tribute to keep their “sacred moments” private, she got emotional as she spoke about what bonded them.

“Dolly has been... when I get a vinyl printed, that’s the first person I send it to, and this time around I’m going to send her a vinyl because I always do,” she said, holding back tears. “I’m just trying to keep myself together... But the last time we would talk, it was actually me telling her about this record.” Miley released her 10th studio album, Bass Persuades, on Sept. 18.

“Even though we are so different, that’s what made us so perfect for each other,” she said. “She knew this, and I know this. She is known for, like, the fake: the hair, the makeup, and the show of it. But there’s a part of her, that I think is what everyone gravitates towards, is how real she is and how authentic she is.”

Miley went on to explain how Parton got her through Hannah Montana, helping her learn to separate her Disney Channel persona from herself without completely casting herself aside.

“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,” she said. “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.”

Miley also touched on how Parton disciplined her, especially when it came to live performances. “I always cry, I can’t help it,” she recalled. “‘End of the World,’ I start crying, and she watched me on Letterman and was like, ‘What are you crying about?’ Like, that song’s about the world ending and me never seeing my mom again. She was like, ‘Music is escapism. Let them cry. Get through it.’ And I was like, ‘I know, but this is who I am.’ And she loved me for it.”

You can also thank Parton for Miley’s legendary performance of “Flowers” at the 2024 Grammys. “I go to Nashville to see Dolly, and she wanted to pick me up, which never happens,” she recalled. “I’m like, ‘Oh sh*t,’ they trapped me in the car. She’s telling me why I gotta do the Grammys. And I’m like, ‘I can’t.’ And she's like, ‘Get your hair teased and get a dress that you love, and you’re gonna step into your Hannah Montana, your Dolly Parton.’ Like you have that part of yourself.”