Taylor Swift honors Dolly Parton’s ‘everlasting’ legacy in heartfelt tribute

Taylor Swift is paying tribute to one of the most legendary artists in country music: Dolly Parton.

“A world without Dolly doesn’t feel possible, real, or right,” Swift told Page Six in a statement following Parton’s death Tuesday at the age of 80. “But because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one.”

The “Cruel Summer” singer called Parton “truly the gift that kept on giving.”

“Dolly gave us someone to look up to while encouraging us to be who we are as individuals. Somehow she was able to give us her lessons about the world gently and honestly, simultaneously, and oftentimes hilariously,” Swift continued. “She managed to give the world the ultimate mystery and fantasy in some corners of her life, but to give full transparency in the ways that counted.”

Swift went on to praise the “Jolene” singer for being “true grace and true grit, all in one dazzling person,” noting that “she possessed the softest heart when it came to the struggles of others, and a backbone of steel to defend her own self worth as an artist.”

“Along with her other fans, I am so grateful for all of it,” she added. “For the melodies and lyrics she wrote that thawed even the coldest hearts. For the millions of books she provided children all over the world so that they might fall in love with stories the way she did. For the tightropes she walked so that young girls like me could grow up dreaming of joining the circus too.

Swift concluded her statement, saying, “Dolly, I’ll think of you each step of the way.”

This is a developing story…