Lainey Wilson has shared details of one of her final conversations with Dolly Parton, revealing that the late country legend told her she still felt she had more to accomplish.
Parton died Tuesday at 80 following what Wilson described as a private health battle. In an Instagram tribute, Wilson said the two spoke by phone just weeks before Parton’s death.
“My Dolly. I felt like you were my friend before we even met,” Wilson wrote. “You made everybody feel that way.”
Wilson said the conversation touched on the demands of the music business, sacrifice, marriage and faith.
“We got to talk about the business, the sacrifice, how special Carl Dean was to you and how important Duck is to me,” she wrote, referring to Parton’s late husband and Wilson’s husband, Devlin “Duck” Hodges.
Parton also offered a bit of relationship advice.
“You told me that ‘it’s all great and stuff that Duck lets you be you, but you better make sure you let Duck be himself too,’” Wilson recalled.
REELated:
Peter Cullen, legendary voice of Optimus Prime, dies at 85
Wilson remembers one last conversation with the country legend, filled with career advice, marriage wisdom and the belief that Parton still had more work to do.
The conversation also turned spiritual, with Parton encouraging Wilson to move slowly through the Book of Revelation and return to Psalms when she needed a breather.
But the line that stayed with Wilson was Parton’s belief that her work was not done.
“We talked about how we both feel like we were called into this business and you told me you felt like you weren’t finished,” Wilson wrote.
Wilson answered that sentiment in her tribute.
“Well, my friend, you are not. The kind of love and light you shined in your lifetime is the kind that never goes away.”
She added that she was grateful Parton shared her gifts with the world and ended with a deeply personal farewell.
“I will always love you, my friend.”
Wilson has long spoken about Parton as one of her biggest influences, both professionally and personally. She previously said working with Parton in the studio felt like fulfilling a lifelong dream.
“I think all of y’all probably know how important Dolly is to me and my journey,” Wilson once said. “She has definitely been somebody that I look up to.”
For Wilson, that admiration eventually became friendship.
And in their final conversation, Parton still sounded exactly like Dolly – offering advice, cracking wise and looking toward whatever came next.
