Dolly Parton on Getting Older: ‘I Have No Plans of Slowing Down’

Dolly Parton just celebrated her 75th birthday, but she has no plans to retire. The country music superstar reveals that she feels better than ever, and has a lot more things she wants to accomplish in her life and career.

“Well I plan to be around a lot longer,” Parton said (via WKRN). “I have no plans of slowing down because the number says I should. I don’t pay attention to that. I wake up with new dreams every day. I try to make the most of every year that I’ve lived. I’ve been doing that since I was little. I’ll be doing it until I keel over. Hopefully that won’t be anytime soon.”

Parton’s age makes her eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, but she is not willing to use that number, or the fact that she donated one million dollars towards research, to get it ahead of anyone else.

“I’m not going to get mine until some more people get theirs,” Parton said. “I don’t want it to look like I’m jumping the line just because I donated money. I’m very funny about that. I’m going to get mine though, but I’m going to wait. I’m at the age where I could have gotten mine legally … I turned 75. I was going to do it on my birthday, and I thought, ‘Nah, don’t do that.’ You’ll look like you’re just doing a show.

“None of my work is really like that,” she continued. “I wasn’t doing it for a show. I’m going to get mine. I want it. I’m going to get it. When I get it, I’ll probably do it on camera so people will know and I’ll tell them the truth, if I have symptoms and all that. Hopefully it’ll encourage people. I’m not going to jump the line just because I could.”

Parton might have a lot she still wants to achieve, but receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom isn’t anywhere on her list. In fact, she’s already turned it down twice, and says she isn’t sure she would receive it if it was offered again.

“I got offered the Freedom Award from the Trump administration and I couldn’t accept it because my husband [Carl Dean] was ill,” Parton revealed on the Today Show. “Then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the COVID, so now I feel like if I take it I’ll be doing politics. So, I’m not sure. I don’t work for those awards. It would be nice, but I’m not sure that I even deserve it. But that’s a nice compliment for people to think that I might deserve it.”