"I'd always dreamed of being my own star"

You've been asked if you're a feminist so many times, and you're tired of that. But after you left Porter [Wagoner]'s show, it became an important moment of empowerment for women. You said, essentially, "I deserve my own space."

Yeah, you're right. I had always dreamed of a show of my own. I'd always dreamed of being my own star. I had never in a million years thought about being just a girl singer in somebody else's band. I kept trying to tell Porter, "I need a little freedom. If I'm going to stay here, I need to do this, do that." Oh Lord, everything I said was a big fight.

It was the hardest thing I ever did because it was scary, the leaving and the going. Everybody was saying, "You're making a big mistake. You're one of the best, hottest girl singers in the business, and if you leave Porter, you're not likely to do well." I wasn't afraid of my future because I truly believed I had one. But it was the going, having to hurt people that have helped you. Through my intuition and prayer and faith in myself, that's where I got the courage to do it. My first million-selling record [1976's Here You Come Again] was after I left Porter's show, after I went ahead and took on new management, did all the things I felt I needed to do. I've just been going ever since.

We still live in a world where women are fighting for equal pay, let alone respect. Are you proud that women particularly can turn to you for that example?

Absolutely. I kept asking for a raise, but the whole time I was with Porter, the whole seven years I stayed, my salary never changed. Porter justified it by the fact that I was making royalties, publishing my songs. He made every excuse. Porter would buy me gifts and publicise the fact he'd got me gifts, when I kept saying, Why don't you just treat me fair? I was never going to be any more than what I was, Porter Wagoner's girl singer. I didn't want to make as much money as him. It was his show. I don't care if you're a man or a woman or whatever your colour or your religion: if you do the work, you should be paid for it. It's not about anything other than your work.

- Grayson Haver Currin interviews Dolly Parton, Mojo magazine, November 2023, p.37