Dolly Parton is a humble queen as she cringes at celebrity culture: ‘I don’t want to be worshipped’

Dolly Parton is not here to be worshipped (Picture: Netflix)

Dolly Parton might be one of the most iconic musicians around, but celebrity worship makes her ‘cringe’.

The country star, 75, has been named as one of 2021’s People Of The Year but admitted she finds it hard when people put her on a pedestal.

She explained to People: ‘I don’t want to be worshiped, because there’s a scripture in my Bible that talks about idol worship.

‘And I see that happening all the time with movie stars and these celebrities. People literally worship them more than they worship God. And I just – I cringe at it sometimes. But if I can set an example, then that’s great.’

As well as her chart-topping hits, Dolly is well-known for her charity work, including donating $1million (£753,000) towards research into a vaccine for coronavirus when the pandemic hit.

In her characteristically humble way, she added: ‘I’ve gotten far more credit than I deserve I’m sure, but I’m just happy to have played a small part in that.’

The country icon believes she got too much credit for her donation to funding research into the Covid-19 vaccine (Picture: PA)

She admitted in a video posted by People: ‘I have to honestly tell you, I was a little bit sceptical of accepting being put on the cover as one of the People of the Year.

‘Because that’s a lot of pressure, I do feel pressure when people put me on such a pedestal. I don’t deserve all that, I am not all that. I make a joke saying: “I’m not all that, I’m not even all there!”’

Dolly added: ‘I’m glad that I stand for enough stuff to where I’m not the worst person in the world.’

As well as helping to fund the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, Dolly has also been running the Imagination Library project since 1995, providing free books to children.

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The charitable endeavour has since hit the milestone of having donated 170 million books, and it was all started as a tribute to Dolly’s father who ‘couldn’t read and write and that always troubled him and bothered him.’

Dolly admitted she is ‘addicted to the feeling of giving’ and has always used her own wealth to give back and help others since finding fame.

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