Jane Fonda became visibly emotional while remembering her longtime friend Dolly Parton, saying the late country icon “meant love.”
Parton died August 25 at age 80 following a short battle with cancer, prompting an outpouring of grief from fans, fellow artists, and longtime friends.
During an interview with Democracy Now!, Fonda struggled to hold back tears when asked what Parton meant to her.
“She meant love,” Fonda said. “She really did. She loved everyone.”
Fonda then recalled a moment that, to her, captured Parton’s instinctive empathy.
During a photo shoot with Fonda and Lily Tomlin, the two actresses jokingly crossed their eyes for one photo. Parton objected immediately.
“She got very upset,” Fonda recalled. “She said, ‘We never can show this to anybody.’”
Parton explained that she had a cross-eyed relative and did not want the image to feel as though they were making fun of people.
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For Fonda, it was a small example of how carefully Parton thought about others. The actress also remembered traveling through Tennessee and Arkansas with Parton as the singer prepared to begin a tour, watching firsthand the relationship she had with her fans.
“They loved her so much that they accepted my presence,” Fonda said.
What struck her most was the respect Parton showed in return.
“She absolutely respected them,” Fonda said. “That was why there was so much love.”
Fonda noted that Parton never talked down to her audience and always presented herself with intention.
“She was always who she was, out of respect for her fans.”
And then there was the laughter.
Fonda remembered Parton as someone who made sure the people around her were constantly laughing, even if she had to create the moment herself.
“If she had gotten to the end of the day without her and her friends laughing so hard they had to cross their legs, then she would create a cause for laughter,” Fonda said.
“She laughed all the time and made sure that everybody around her guffawed all the time.”
It was a fitting remembrance of a performer whose public persona was built on humor, generosity, and warmth.
For Fonda, though, the memory was even simpler.
Dolly Parton, she said, meant love.
