Country crooner Dolly Parton said faith is the reason why she has persevered over the years.
Despite her lasting success as a music icon, the 72-year-old admitted she’s endured plenty of private woes.
In the early ‘80s, Parton developed gynecological problems that had plagued her for about three years. By 1984, she underwent a partial hysterectomy and was told she’d never be able to have children with her husband, Carl Thomas Dean.
The couple had married in 1966.
“It was a really bad time,” Parton told Closer Weekly Wednesday. “Sometimes God just has to smack you down. He was almost saying, ‘Sit your pretty little ass down because we have to deal with some stuff!’”
Parton admitted she sank into a two-year depression and was forced to scale back her professional commitments to heal. It was also around the same time when Parton wrestled with guilt over an emotional affair that left her heartbroken.
“I grew up around macho men and have had my lovers that are that macho type,” she shared in her 2017 book, “Dolly on Dolly.” “I’m kinda drawn to that.”
However, Parton was so rattled by her feelings for another man that she even contemplated suicide.
“I looked at it a long time,” said Parton about eyeing her gun at the time. “Then, just as I picked it up, just to hold it, and look at it for a moment, our little dog, Popeye, came running up the stairs. The tap-tap of his paws jolted me back to reality. I suddenly froze and I put the gun down.”
Parton said it was then when she started to pray, begging for God’s help.
“I kinda believe Popeye was a spiritual messenger from God,” she said. “I don’t think I’d have done it, killed myself, but I can’t say for sure. Now that I’ve gone through that terrible moment, I can certainly understand the possibilities, even for someone solid like me, if the pain gets bad enough.”
Parton insisted that it was her faith in God that truly saved her marriage.
“A belief in God is essential,” she stressed, adding she never lets a day pass by without her daily prayers.
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SOURCE: Fox News
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