Dolly Parton’s connection with God came on her terms.
Parton, who recently announced an upcoming Las Vegas residency, opened up about her relationship with God on the July 10 episode of the “Khloé in Wonderland” podcast with Khloé Kardashian. Parton said her grandfather was a preacher and they were Pentecostal, which focused on “hellfire, brimstone” teachings and getting saved, which left her “so scared.”
The “Jolene” singer, though, vividly recalled the first time she truly found God.
“There was an old, abandoned church house down below us where it had been a church years ago,” she said. “It still had an old abandoned piano, and (it) had broken down. And this was where people go to drink, have sex, stuff written on the walls, but still had Bible verses and everything.
“But I would go to that old church, and I felt the presence. I felt the presence there. And so it was in that old, abandoned church that I just praying to God the way that I — I was just saying, ‘Well, just show me, help me, save me, because I want to be ready.’ So it was then that I just had this peace fall over me, and I just felt like that I had, for the first time in my life, had truly found God.”
Parton, whose husband died earlier this year, said the moment opened her eyes.
“And I felt like that I just had a knowing of what my life was supposed to be,” she said. “And I thought it was just a feeling that said, ‘You go and don’t you stop until I say, “Stop.”’ So I never have. So that was kind of how that happened. It had to happen without fear and without influence and without anything else.”
Parton also said people need to have faith in something beyond themselves.
“You have to believe in something bigger than you, and whether you call it science, whether you call it nature, whether you call it this or that, doesn’t matter. There’s a force there. There’s an energy. There’s a greatness. And those of us that do believe like we do, however you find Him, just do,” she said.
“Even if I knew there was no God, I’d choose to believe it, because I want to believe there’s something out there. And I do believe it,” she added.
Parton also said she talks to God.
“I say, ‘Hey, Dad.’ So I talk about everything. I talk out loud. If somebody (was) to see me when I’m by myself, if I get excited about something, I’ll shout, I think, ‘Lord, if somebody saw me, they’d think I was totally insane,’” she joked.
Parton has spent decades as an enormous star, transcending the country music genre, but she said her faith has helped her avoid thinking too highly of herself, while also giving her an ability to speak to others looking for something more.
“I think you’re going to reach more people, somebody like us, that are in a place of power,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of people out there that don’t know what to think, don’t know what to believe. They want to believe in something, but they don’t.
“Whether they believe in God or not, if they believe in something you’re doing, and if you say something that’ll give them that hope that there is something more. So I, really, just think we just have to walk that fine line to kind of try to keep it within ourselves, but to be able to project that to people.”
Parton joked, “I look like a Jezebel,” but she can still connect to others.
“I want to feel like more people be drawn to that than if I came out like the Pentecostal women I grew up with,” she said.
“I really think that you can reach more people if you’re maybe on the edge, so to speak,” she said. “I mean, if you look one way, but you’re another, it’s OK. But if what you’re saying, it goes back to what I’m saying, it’s your deeds and the intent and the content of your heart, which is like the intent. But if your intentions are good and you want to do great, and you’re working toward that, then I think that sometimes people (are) going to pay more attention to somebody that looks like us.”
Kardashian noted the importance of working hard to make dreams true, which prompted Parton to point out how God can help those who try and have faith.
“They get mad at God because they pray and the prayer ain’t answered. Well, God’s willing to help them that’s willing to help themselves. He’ll give you a hand,” she said. “A dream is a dream, and you got to work it.
“Like I always said, you got to put legs and arms and wings and eyes and ears on that. And a dream is different than a wish. A wish is like a fantasy thing. You can make a wish all day and wish on a star and all that, but in order to make that a reality, you’ve got to really do all those things. When we talk where you’ve got to gather all those things to put faith — that’s what faith is.”
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