Sept. 17, 2026, 7:24 p.m. ET
Miley Cyrus is opening up about her final dialog together with her godmother, Dolly Parton.
In an Apple Music interview printed on Thursday, Sept. 17, the “Flowers” singer, 33, shared that the “Queen of Nation,” who died on Aug. 25 after a temporary battle with most cancers, was the primary individual Cyrus would ship her vinyl data to after they had been printed. Their final dialog was Cyrus exhibiting Parton her tenth album “Bass Persuades,” which drops on Sept. 18.
“I am simply making an attempt to maintain myself collectively, however the time that we talked, which was the final time we’d discuss, it was truly me telling her about this report as a result of although we’re so totally different, that is what made us so good for one another,” she instructed interviewer Zane Lowe.
Cyrus stated that whereas Parton is thought for “the pretend, the hair, the make-up, and the present of it,” many individuals gravitated towards her plain authenticity. She defined how a lot knowledge she’s taken from the “Jolene” singer throughout their time on the Disney Channel present “Hannah Montana.”
“And there was a time in my life, we hit on it with ‘Hannah,’ a lot of my life was about persona. And I believe a method that I may take a look at that as you possibly can have a persona and nonetheless be who you’re is as a result of I had Dolly,” Cyrus stated. “Generally I name what I do drag as a result of the best way that I current myself is simply somebody that’s so totally different from the person who feeds the tortoise each morning. However once more, that individual’s inside me. I simply type of have her off.”
Miley Cyrus says Dolly Parton instructed her to not cry on stage
Cyrus additionally recalled a time when Parton gave her some tough-love recommendation after crying throughout her June 2024 efficiency of “Finish of the World” on David Letterman‘s Netflix sequence “My Subsequent Visitor Wants No Introduction.”
“I can not assist it. ‘Finish of the World,’ I begin crying and he or she watched me on Letterman and was like, ‘What are you crying about?’ Like, that tune’s concerning the world ending and me by no means seeing my mother once more,” she stated.
Lowe replied :”Like, be skilled.”
“That is just about what she stated. She was like, ‘Music is escapism. Allow them to cry. You might want to get by it.’ And I used to be like, I do know, however that is who I’m, and he or she liked me for it,” she added.
Lowe applauded Parton for in all probability being the one one that may sing “I Will All the time Love You” with out crying.
“And never weep. I can not. I cried singing ‘I Will All the time Love You’ together with her, however I believe she knew at the moment that the explanation I used to be crying is the explanation that I cry now, which is as a result of so lots of my actually stabilizing friends that I’ve in my life [are from] generations earlier than me,” Cyrus stated. “And so they’ve laid down, brick-by-brick, the highway that I journey now. And so they aren’t all the time going to be right here for me to name them and say, ‘What do I do now?’ Which I all the time did with Dolly.”
Cyrus continued: “And he or she was all the time proper. It is like how your mother’s like all the time proper, and whenever you’re a child, you are like, what does she know? After which as you grow old, you are like, all the pieces. How? The place did this come from? You are only a regular individual. Why are you aware all the pieces? Dolly was simply all the time proper about stuff.”
Miley Cyrus says Dolly Parton persuaded her to carry out on the Grammys
Cyrus additionally shared Parton beforehand inspired her to carry out on the Grammys.
“I am going to Nashville and I am going to see Dolly and prefer it’s very fascinating as a result of she needed to choose me up, which by no means occurs,” she stated. “And he or she’s telling me why I gotta do the Grammys. And I am like, I can not. Like, you recognize what occurred? I really feel like I am nonetheless on this relaxation and restoration mode.”
Parton instructed her to “get your hair teased and get a costume that you simply love and such as you’re gonna neglect for that second and also you’re gonna step into your Hannah Montana, your Dolly Parton,” in line with Cyrus. “Like you’ve got that a part of your self. Like you’ve got that different factor. It is what the army makes use of, it is what the most effective athletes use,” she continued.
Cyrus first carried out on the Grammys in 2009, singing “Fifteen” with Taylor Swift. She returned in 2018, performing alongside Elton John and in 2019, alongside Parton. In 2024, she sang her monitor “Flowers” moments after successful report of the yr, her first Grammy ever.
Following her godmother’s loss of life, Cyrus shared a tribute with a throwback Instagram photograph of the music trailblazer, writing “The sensation of shedding my Aunt Dolly is past what feels proper to share. Our most sacred moments had been non-public they usually’ll keep there behind the stage, beneath the glamour & between our hearts.”
“What I KNOW is Dolly would need me to really feel it, write a tune about it, after which proceed on and be sturdy,” she wrote within the caption. “I’ve an angel by my facet. I all the time have. Considered one of our final conversations was about music and metamorphosis. I’ll all the time love her and need to make her proud.”
