17 Dolly Parton Moments That Make Me Wonder Why I Wasn't Stanning Her Already

Dolly, you dropped this: 👑

We all know Dolly Parton.

SAG Awards / Via GIPHY

You're probably familiar with her iconic hits like "Jolene" or her role as Miley's godmother on Hannah Montana.

However, Miss Dolly is more than just a Grammy-award winning, Country Hall of Fame-inducted music legend.

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She's also a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Here are 17 times Dolly Parton was basically the coolest person ever.

Dolly Parton / Via GIPHY

1. When she helped fund Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine.

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The Washington Post reported that Dolly donated a million dollars to coronavirus research at Vanderbilt in honor of Naji Abumrad. She befriended the professor after a car accident in 2013 when she went to the university's medical center for medical advice.

2. When she gave millions of free books to children all across the world through her Imagination Library.

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Since its inception in 1995, the Imagination Library has donated over 100 million books to children from birth through starting school. The program has expanded to Canada, Australia, the UK, and Ireland.

3. When she distributed monthly stipends to the survivors of the Great Smoky Mountains wildfire.

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After the fires, Dolly immediately jumped into action to help her fellow Tennessee natives. The My People Fund gave displaced families $1,000 a month for six months. She also started the Wildfire Scholarship Fund to provide all of the affected junior and senior high school students with $4,500 for college each.

4. When she helped build a hospital in honor of the doctor who delivered her.

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In 2006, Dolly pledged half a million dollars to the construction of a hospital in her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee. She also named a song after Dr. Robert F. Thomas.

5. When she opened her own bald eagle sanctuary to help preserve another American icon.

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The Eagle Mountain Sanctuary is part of Dollywood. It holds the "largest presentation of non-releasable bald eagles" in the US. Dolly is also the American Eagle Foundation's largest benefactor.

6. When she became the namesake of a newly discovered lichen.

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In 2015, researchers discovered a new lichen growing in the Appalachian Mountains. They named it Japewiella dollypartoniana in honor of the international attention Dolly and her music have brought to the region.

7. When she broke the Guinness World Record for Most Decades with a Top 20 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Songs Chart.

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She broke the record in 2018, along with the record for Most Hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs Chart by a Female Artist.

8. When she was inducted into Stanford University's Happiness Hall of Fame.

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The non-profit organization recognizes prominent figures who have "advanced the cause of happiness throughout the world." In her acceptance speech, she joked that, "it's not happiness, it's Botox!"

9. When she wrote "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You" in a single day.

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In 2017, she told the Bobby Bones Show that she was having a "good writing day" when she penned what would become iconic hits for herself and Whitney Houston in 1972.

10. When she secretly helped produce Buffy the Vampire Slayer...

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From 1997 to 2003, Dolly was an uncredited executive producer on the show. Her production company Sandollar Entertainment is credited as one of the series' producers.

11. ...And personally handed a check to a female producer who wasn't being paid the same as her male counterparts.

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The producer, Gail Berman, told the New York Times that Dolly invited her to lunch in the late '90s. Over salads, Dolly informed her that she'd been unhappy to hear that the men at Sandollar Entertainment had given Berman an unfair share of the Buffy royalties.

12. When she responded to a question about the Black Lives Matter movement with a question of her own — "Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter?”

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The quote from Dolly's Billboard interview inspired the creation of a beautiful mural in Nashville. Artist Kim Radford told AP that the superstar's response treated the movement "just like Dolly does: lovingly."

13. When she became the largest employer in the county she grew up in.

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Even though Dolly left Sevier County at 18, she returned to open her own theme park, Dollywood, in 1986. The park and its other properties have more than 4,000 employees. Dolly herself is the "Dreamer-in-Chief."

14. When the mayor of Nashville AND the governor of South Carolina both named a day in her honor.

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In 2019, Mayor David Briley declared August 5 Dolly Parton Day. In 2011, the governor of South Carolina also declared June 23 Dolly Parton Day to honor the opening of her Myrtle Beach attraction.

15. When she openly supported her goddaughter Miley Cyrus's right to grow as an artist and shed her Disney Channel image.

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When Time tapped Miley as part of the Time 100 in 2014, Dolly told the magazine that she respected her choices because of how smart and talented she was. Dolly said, "I did it my way, so why can’t she do it her way?"

16. When she turned a story from her childhood into a song and a picture book.

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Coat of Many Colors tells the story of how a young Dolly learned to overcome bullies by choosing to feel appreciation for the love of family rather than shame over the fact that her coat was handmade. Dolly wrote the song's lyrics on dry cleaning receipts from Porter Wagoner's designer coats while she was on tour with him. Her family used the original coat for other purposes, and her mother made a replica to display in Dolly's Chasing Rainbows Museum.

17. And finally, when she credited her acrylic nails as an instrument on "9 to 5."

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On The Graham Norton Show, Dolly explained that would clack her nails together to create a typewriter-like beat when she was writing the song on the 9 to 5 movie set.