Cher reflects on 50-year friendship with Dolly Parton after her death: ‘She just had a spirit’
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Dolly Parton’s death has left everyone heartbroken. Now, her longtime close friend Cher is talking about her late friend and reminiscing about the first impression she had when she met Parton.
Cher did not fail to mention the kind of aura Parton carried that made her so lovable and worthy of praise. Parton took her last breath on August 25, and since then, tributes to the legendary singer-songwriter have continued to pour in.
Cher recalls first meeting Dolly Parton in 1978
The 'Believe' singer appeared on CBS News on Tuesday, August 25, where she talked about her decades-long friendship with Parton.
The Grammy winner initially told host Gayle King that she was fine but later started tearing up as she recalled meeting Parton at her manager’s house in 1978.
Cher had no idea that her manager, Sandy Gallin, was also managing the 'Jolene' hitmaker. “I walked in, and I see this chick with this major hair, white pants and white, not exactly a shirt but a jacket-y shirt," she added.
"And I looked up and she had buttons on, not the lapel, but you know the part that goes down your chest - a yoke, a yoke. I looked at it and I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’ve never seen so many buttons in my life," she continued.
“I said, Sandy, ‘Who is that girl?’ And he said, ‘You know what, Cher, you’re gonna love her and she’s gonna love you.’ And it was the truth, and we did,” recalled the 'If I Can Turn Back Time' hitmaker.
Music icon Cher says she was surprised and in tears when she heard about Dolly Parton’s death. She tells @GayleKing and @TonyDokoupil about meeting Parton for the first time, her favorite song she recorded and what she’ll miss most about the country music legend. pic.twitter.com/ZlOuLAa28S
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 26, 2026
Cher made sure to highlight what exactly she loved about Parton.
“She just had a spirit, and it was a spirit that was always thinking the best was happening, the best was gonna happen. Her friends loved her. Her life was good. That’s who she was,” she said.
That was not all. Cher revealed that she wanted to understand what was so special about Parton’s concerts, which led her to watch a snippet. “You can either do this thing or you can’t, and she did it,” she said.
“When she walked across the stage, every once in a while she would bend over to reach out, she reached out to the audience, and she reached out to the people that were closest to her, and she smiled.”
Dolly Parton’s health struggles before her death
Representatives of the country music legend announced that she died at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, where she had been hospitalized since August 21.
Before her death, Parton experienced some health problems that kept her from appearing in public and fulfilling her professional duties. For instance, she canceled her Las Vegas residency due to kidney stones, infections, and other health complications involving her digestive and immune systems.
Just several days before her death, Parton gave an interview in which she admitted that she had neglected her own health because of her work and other commitments.
