Dolly Parton has revealed her grandfather used to physically punish her over the way she dressed.
The 77-year-old singer famously modelled her look on ‘the town tramp’ – a local woman who wore high heels and tight skirts – which she admitted her father and grandfather both ‘hated’.
The 9 to 5 singer said her grandfather, Reverend Jake Owens, even went so far as to physically admonish her for her choice in clothing, and that she was ‘scolded’ and ‘whipped’.
Speaking to The Guardian newspaper, she said: ‘I was willing to pay for it. I’m very sensitive, I didn’t like being disciplined – it hurt my feelings so bad to be scolded or whipped or whatever.
‘But sometimes there’s just that part of you that’s willing, if you want something bad enough, to go for it.’
She continued: ‘I’ve been at this so long, I’ve worn some of the most bizarre things – my hairdos have always been so out there. At the time you think you look good, then you look back on it, like, what was I thinking?’
Dolly’s iconic outfits would include short skirts, low-cut tops and bright lipstick.
The Jolene hitmaker – who has been married to Carl Dean for 57 years – has acquired an empire worth over £400million but she had to work to overcome prejudicial ideas about her because she is a woman.
She addressed sexism in the industry, admitting she knew how to ‘manoeuvre’ a crowd of men and could put a man ‘in his place’.
The singer estimates she has written around 3,000 songs and has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
She also co-owns the ‘Dollywood’ company, which includes a theme park and a water park.
In July the singer said she would ‘rather drop dead’ than retire after six decades in the music industry.
‘I would never retire. I would hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song on stage someday – and hopefully one I’ve written – but that’s how I hope to go,’ she told Ken Bruce on Greatest Hits Radio.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
