Dolly Parton has admitted that her public persona is at least partially a character she created.
She dresses and styles herself in an exaggerated manner and relies on a cycle of jokes and anecdotes to get through interviews.
In the early days of her career, friends said Parton was too afraid to show the public her true self. She feared people wouldn’t like what they saw.
In order to manage fame, Parton said she created the character of Dolly Parton.
“I look one way and am another.
It makes for a good combination,” she said, per the book Dolly on Dolly, adding, “I always think of ‘her,’ the Dolly image, like a ventriloquist does his dummy.
I have fun with it. I think, what will I do with her this year to surprise people? What’ll she wear? What’ll she say?”
Parton’s friend said this was all an attempt to get people to like her. She didn’t believe her fans would appreciate her as she was, so she created a character to appeal to them.
