Dolly Parton’s legacy in her own words: ‘Why not spread kindness?’

Dolly Parton, the country legend, who has died aged 80, welcomed HELLO! into her world for an intimate interview two years ago, and even serenaded us in Nashville. During this heartfelt conversation, she revealed touching insights into her simple life and values behind the rhinestones.

Kindness and philanthropy, even in passing given she asked for fans to make donations to the Imagination Library in lieu of flowers, was always at the forefront of Dolly’s vision and public image, one of 12 siblings growing up in a two-room cabin in Tennessee.

Speaking with HELLO! in 2024, the “I Will Always Love You” singer spoke passionately about her charitable work, especially when it comes to spreading a love for education and reading through the Imagination Library.

“I just think people need to be better to each other,” she told us while at home in Nashville. “I cannot get it into my head and through my heart why people can’t be nicer and better to one another.”

“We’re supposed to love one another and love our neighbor as ourselves, but that seems to be such a hard thing to do. Yet it doesn’t take that much time to be kind.”

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She continued: “If you’re kind to people, they usually feel bad about not being kind to somebody else. That’s how you spread anything, whether it’s for good or for bad. So why not spread kindness? People are spreading way too much of the other stuff these days.”

Dolly expanded on the work she’d done with the Imagination Library, which she created in 1995, to expand reading and literacy across not only the United States, but now Canada, Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom, with hundreds of millions of books donated so far.

“They receive the books until they start school,” she explained. “I have little kids coming up to me saying: ‘Thank you for the books; can we get some more?’ The ones who are getting them thank me for them, and that just melts my heart.”

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Dolly explained that the initiative came about because of her father, Robert Lee. “My daddy couldn’t read or write. That bothered him and it troubled me that he was troubled by it. That’s where I got the idea to start the Imagination Library in our little home county, and then it grew and grew, and now it’s all over the world.”

Noting her legacy of philanthropy, from million dollar donations to Covid-19 vaccine research, to raising millions for those affected by the Gatlinburg wildfires and the 2021 flash floods in Tennessee, Dolly’s legacy of kindness will remain for decades after her passing.

“It’s my opinion that if you’ve been blessed and you’re in a position to help and you see that. there’s a need, you should do it,” Dolly told us. “Otherwise, you just feel selfish: you just take and take and take, and it’s all about me.”

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The singer noted that there’s “so much you can do” once you enter a certain “wealth bracket” as a celebrity, and added: “One of the best feelings in the world is for someone to come up to me and say, because I did this or that, I’ve helped them,” noting that at the end of the day, she just wants to “be happy” and put out a “call for kindness.”