© 2026 ABC News

During the interview, Parton also spoke about being unabashedly herself.

She told the outlet that a friend of hers, the late artist Chet Atkins, once told her she should \"tone it down.\"

\"You're wearing too much makeup. You need to have a little more taste,\" she told the outlet he said to her. \"People are never going to take you serious as a songwriter and singer.\"

However, she decided to march to the beat of her own drum.

\"I said, 'You know what? I can't separate the two. This is who I am,'\" she told Elle. \"I not only didn't tone it down, I figured if my work was truly good enough, people would eventually recognize that.\"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dolly Parton (@dollyparton) on Sep 4, 2019 at 10:58am PDT

She said what remained most important to her was \"knowing who I was, being happy with me, and feeling comfortable in the way I presented myself.\"

\"If I was happy, I could make other people happy,\" she shared. \"That's how I've always looked at it: that I look totally artificial, but I am totally real, as a writer, as a professional, as a human being. A rhinestone shines just as good as a diamond.\"

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Culture/dolly-parton-play-movie/story?id=66181727","legacySlug":"/culture/story/dolly-parton-play-movie-66181727","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"17:09","publishDate":"10-10-2019","updatedTime":"10:00","updatedDate":"10-11-2019","socialImage":{"alt":"Dolly Parton with the GRAMMY Charities Signings during the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards, Feb. 10, 2019, in Los Angeles.","credit":"Robin Marchant/Getty Images for The Recording Academy","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/dolly-gty-er-191010_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"10/10/2019 17:09:05 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":66181727,"headline":"Dolly Parton on who could play her in a movie","mediaAssetTitle":"DOLLY PARTON CASTING","description":"Dolly Parton has some ideas for the casting.","duration":"2:59","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2019/10/191010_gma_pop_0810_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["60983469","63025712","61167437"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"February 11, 2019","headline":"Dolly Parton star-studded tribute performance lights up 2019 Grammy stage","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/dolly-parton-rocks-2019-grammy-stage-star-studded-60983469","id":60983469,"image":{"alt":"Dolly Parton star-studded tribute performance lights up 2019 Grammy stage","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/dolly-performing-grammys1-rt-ml-190210_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Mike Blake/Reuters","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"May 14, 2019","headline":"Working '9 to 5' again: Dolly Parton expects to shoot the sequel in 'next few months'","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/working-dolly-parton-expects-shoot-sequel-months-63025712","id":63025712,"image":{"alt":"Working '9 to 5' again: Dolly Parton expects to shoot the sequel in 'next few months'","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/lily-tomlin-dolly-parton-jane-fonda-gty-jc-190514_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"FilmMagic/Getty Images, FILE","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"February 19, 2019","headline":"Dolly Parton says her husband isn't the biggest fan of her music","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/country-superstar-dolly-parton-husband-biggest-fan-music-61167437","id":61167437,"image":{"alt":"Dolly Parton says her husband isn't the biggest fan of her music","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/dolly-gty-er-190219_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Dolly Parton on who could play her in a movie","description":"Dolly Parton has some ideas for the casting.","duration":"2:59","uploadDate":"10-10-2019","publication":"10-10-2019","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2019/10/191010_gma_pop_0810_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2019/10/191010_gma_pop_0810_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/dolly-parton-play-movie-66181727"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132748964","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132636882","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132747869","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132738086","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132714218","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132701634","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132706335","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132675442","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132665875","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132628890","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132569874","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132567885","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132510121","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132473181","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132497933","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132281378","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132283010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132273278","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132231169","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132206748","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:culture:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"culture","title":"Dolly Parton on who could play her in a movie","pubTime":"13:09","pubDate":"10-10-2019","modTime":"06:00","modDate":"10-11-2019","taxonomyTags":"none","id":66181727,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Dolly Parton on who could play her in a movie","mediaAssetTitle":"DOLLY PARTON CASTING","videoId":66181727,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/culture/story/dolly-parton-play-movie-66181727"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/66181727","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/66181727","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};