Dolly Parton has resurfaced five days after canceling her appearance at a Dollywood event, amid her ongoing health issues that worsened after the death of her husband, Carl Dean, in 2025.
The 80-year-old was absent from the ACM Awards in Nashville on Wednesday, where she won the Poet’s Award, given to country artists who have made an undeniable impact on the industry over the years.
Dolly’s unexpected appearance
Instead of accepting the award in person, Dolly appeared in a pre-recorded video, in which she thanked the academy for their recognition and spoke on the power of songwriting. The star was dressed in a white blouse under a sparkling ivory top, paired with blue jeans.
“I just want to send a very special thank you to the Academy of Country Music for honoring me with the Poet’s Award,” she said in the social media clip. “You know, I’ve been able to do many things throughout my life, but at my core, songwriting has always been the most important part of who I am creatively.”
© NBC via Getty Images“Every dream I ever had and all the dreams that I’ve been able to see come true in life, well, they all started with a song,” she continued.
“Songwriting has been my therapy. Songwriting has been my release, my joy. Songwriting has been a gift from God that has allowed me to touch people with words and music.” Dolly appeared spritely in the video, as she sat down and addressed her audience.
Learn more about Dolly’s health battle below…
Ongoing health issues
The clip comes just days after she was forced to cancel an appearance at the grand opening of a Dollywood ride on August 14 due to health concerns.
“I’ve told you before, all my fans, that I’ve had a few little health issues and sometimes I get a little dizzy and I get dehydrated. And I’m dehydrated,” she clarified in a video displayed at the event.
“So my Nashville doctor has kind of clipped my wings, saying, ‘You ain’t traveling this week.’ So I guess if your doctor tells you, ‘You ain’t traveling this week,’ you ain’t traveling this week.”
She assured fans that “all is going well on the medical end of things”, after dealing with kidney stones earlier in the year.
Losing Carl
Despite her busy schedule, Dolly began to slow down after her husband of almost 60 years, Carl Dean, passed away in March 2025.
“Back when my husband Carl was very sick, that was for a long time, and then when he passed, I didn’t take care of myself,” she said in a video shared with fans in October 2025.
© Getty Images“So I let a lot of things go that I should’ve been taking care of. So anyway, when I got around to it, the doctor said, ‘We need to take care of this, we need to take care of that.'”
She added: “Nothing major, but I did have to cancel some things so I could be closer to home, closer to Vanderbilt, where I’m kind of having a few treatments here and there.” The “Jolene” singer canceled her 2025 Las Vegas residency as a result.
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