Miley Cyrus detailed her final conversation with godmother Dolly Parton in a heartwrenching interview Thursday, saying that the country music legend “was always right.”
Parton was the “Flowers” singer’s godmother in real life and appeared as her “Aunt Dolly” on her Disney Channel show “Hannah Montana.” The duo had a very close bond and mentorship relationship until the end of her life.
“The time that we talked, which was the last time we would talk, it was actually me telling her about this record,” Cyrus told Lowe.
She shared that even though her and Parton were different in many ways they bonded in how the performance persona they shared with the world was a sliver of who they really were.
“She’s known for the faux, the fake, the hair, the makeup, the show of it, but there’s a part of her that’s just what I think what everyone gravitates towards is how real she is and how authentic she is,” Cyrus shared.
“Even though we are so different, that’s what made us so perfect for each other.”
The “Bass Persuades” singer said that she mimicked Parton’s journey by separating her art from her personal life.
Another piece of advice Parton gave Cyrus was to keep her emotions in during her performances and let the audience do the crying for her.
“I always cry. I can’t help it,” Cyrus said. “She [Parton] was like, ‘Music is escapism. Let them cry. You need to get through it.’ And I said, ‘I know, but this is who I am.’ And she loved me for it.”
She shared that during their performance of “I Will Always Love You” at Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party in 2023 Cyrus could not keep the tears in.
“I think she knew at that time that the reason I was crying is the reason that I cry now,” she said. “Not just Dolly, which is a unique, that’s family, but so many of my really stabilizing peers that I have in my life, they’re generations before me and they’ve laid down brick by brick the road that I travel now.”
“And they aren’t always going to be here for me to call them and say, ‘What do I do now?,’ which I always did with Dolly,” she added.
Cyrus also shared that above everything the “Jolene” singer was always right about everything, even in advising her to wear Bob Mackie for her “Flowers” Grammy performance.
“She was always right, and when you’re a kid you’re like ‘What does she know?’ And then as you get older you’re like, ‘Everything,’” she said.
“The Climb” singer said that she still plans to send Parton a copy of her upcoming 10th studio album “Bass Persuades.”
“Dolly has been the first person when I get a vinyl printed, that’s the first person I send it to since I’ve been making vinyls,” she said, holding back tears. “This time around I’m going to send her a vinyl because I always do.”
Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver shared the news of her death on Aug. 25. The country music icon died after a brief battle with cancer.
