Entertainment
Dolly Parton ‘cried on the phone’ when she received $100,000,000 donation from Jeff Bezos for charity-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro
She’s said that she can ‘do a lot of good’ with the money.
Dolly said she ‘couldn’t believe it’ at first (Picture: Getty)
Dolly Parton has shared that she ‘cried on the phone’ when she received a $100 million (£83m) donation from Jeff Bezos.
The 58-year-old billionaire – who founded Amazon – recently awarded the eye-watering sum of money to Dollyfor her ‘courage and civility’, who has been told that she can give the cash to charities of her choice.
The Jolene country legend admitted: ‘I couldn’t believe it. First of all, I cried on the phone with Jeff Bezos. And when I found out he was really serious about it, I just cried because of the gift and how much good I will really be able to do with that.’
‘I just am still praying and thinking about where it all can go. I don’t have to spend it all in one place [and I] don’t have to spend it all right now,’ she added.
Despite this, Dolly, who has a reputation as generous giver to charity, knows that she can ‘do a lot of good’ with the money.
She told Entertainment Tonight: ‘I can guarantee you, I’ll be able to do a lot of good for a lot of needy causes and a lot of needy good people.’
Amazon founder Bezos awarded her the huge sum as part of his Bezos Courage & Civility Award, which honours leaders who ‘pursue solutions with courage and civility’ (Picture: AP)
She is also receiving the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2022 for the work of her Dollywood Foundation, including investing in the Moderna Covid-19 vaccination, reducing poverty and increasing childhood education (Picture: AP)
The award-winning star has been a supporter of various charities during her career, and also created the Dollywood Foundation, which provides books for children around the world.
She also notably donated $1million (£832k) to the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee in 2020 as part of its Covid-19 research, helping to support the development of the Moderna jab, which at the time reported a 95% success rate.
The singer later stated that she felt she got ‘a lot more credit than I deserve’ for her part in helping develop the jab, but felt ‘led to do something’ at the time because she ‘knew something bad was on the rise’.
Dolly said that she would ultimately like to be remembered as a ‘giving’ and ‘good-hearted’ person, despite her stunning musical legacy with the likes of classic songs I Will Always Love You, 9-5 and Here You Come Again under her belt.
Dolly wants to be remembered as a ‘good’ person ultimately (Picture: Amy Sussman/WireImage)
With P!nk at her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony earlier in November (Picture: Getty)
The star added that she wanted to be able ‘to say that I’ve done everything I could with everything I had and tried to do as much good as I can and have as much fun as I can have for my personal self and have other people have fun at my expense’.
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The popular star was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this month – after initially attempting to remove herself as a nominee, fearing she hadn’t ‘earned’ the recognition.
Naturally, relatable queen that she is, she took the opportunity to whizz around snapping photos with her famous friends, including Sheryl Crow, Olivia Rodrigo, Pink, Brandi Carlile, and Duran Duran.
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