Dolly Parton reveals why she would find it 'too hard' to be a judge on reality TV

Bang Showbiz on May 8, 2025

Published in Women

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Dolly Parton would find it "too hard" to be a judge on reality TV.

The 79-year-old country music legend has been asked numerous times to appear on the panel of shows like 'American Idol' and 'The Voice' but has always turned down the opportunity because she "can't hurt" the hopefuls who audition.

She told E! News: "I've been asked to do that a lot of times. It's too hard for me. That's why I don't accept it, because I know how sincere everybody is. Even if they're not that good, they believe they are. And I just can't hurt people."

Outside of her mammoth music career, Dolly launched the Dollywood theme park in her native Tennessee in 1985, and just weeks after the major tourist attraction celebrated its 40th anniversary, she recalled worrying that no one would turn up.

She said: "I thought, well, what if they don't? What am I going to do?

"Then, I started seeing cars coming in, and I remember how exciting that feeling was when the parking lot filled up. Now it's filling up all the time. And 40 years later, we've got them still coming!"

But the 'Jolene' hitmaker is "very proud" of her venture - which is the most-visited ticketed tourist attraction in Tennessee and hosts three million visitors every year - and loves how she has seen it grow and evolve over the course of the last four decades.

She said: "I'm just very proud of all of it, because I've seen it grow. It's like having a house full of kids. Every time something new goes in, it's like, 'Oh, we got a new baby, we got a new kid in the family.' But it's an amazing park and it's catered to families. And so we're proud of that. I think I'm as proud of that as anything, that people want to come back."