Dolly Parton appeared via video at the Academy’s Governor Awards on November 16, 2025, to accept the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award — just two months after she postponed a run of concerts at Las Vegas’ Colosseum at Caesars Palace due to “health challenges.”

In a video filmed at her home in Nashville, the singer, 79, accepted her first Academy Award, declaring herself “blessed” and saying that receiving the recognition for her public service work made her “want to dream up new ways to help lift people up. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be here for? So from my heart to yours, I truly thank you.”

The award was presented by Lily Tomlin, her costar in 1980’s 9 to 5, who Parton declared her “good buddy.”

This is the first major public appearance Parton has made since August 28 2024, when she performed at Kansas City’s Folly Theater to celebrate the Missouri state government’s decision to spend $11 million on the Imagination Library, Parton’s literacy nonprofit, which sends free to books to children aged 5 and under.

What are Dolly Parton’s health issues?

Fans have been concerned about Parton’s health since September, when she postponed a highly anticipated six-date residency at Las Vegas’ Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

In a statement posted to her Instagram account on September 28, 2025, Parton wrote that “As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures … given this, I am not going to be able to put together the show I want you to see, and the show that you deserve to see.” She went on to reassure fans that she wasn’t retiring, as “God hasn’t said anything about stopping yet. But, I believe He is telling me to slow down so I can be ready for more big adventures with all of you”

This announcement followed a September 17 video Parton released to be shown at the opening of a new attraction at Dollywood, her Pigeon Forge, Tennessee theme park. In that video, she noted that she could not be there in person to open the ride because, as per People, “I had a kidney stone that was causing me a lot of problems, turned out it’d given me an infection, and the doctor said, ‘You don’t need to be traveling right this minute, so you need a few days to get better.'”

In an October 8 Instagram video captioned “I ain’t dead yet!,” Parton spoke to fan concern about her health, noting that people thought she was much sicker than she had been, and declaring, “Do I look sick to you?”

“I wanted to put everyone’s mind at ease, those of you who seem to be real concerned — which I appreciate — and I appreciate your prayers … I want you to know that I’m okay,” the singer said. “I’ve got some problems, as I’ve mentioned. Back when my husband Carl was very sick — that was for a long time — and then when he passed, I didn’t take care of myself, so I let a lot of things go that I should have been taking care of. So anyway, when I got around to it, the doctor said, ‘we need to take care of this, we need to take care of that,’ nothing major, but I did have to cancel some things, so I could be closer to home, closer to Vanderbilt [University], where I am kind of having a few treatments here and there. But I wanted you to know that I’m not dying.”

Carl Dean, Parton’s husband of almost 60 years, died on March 3, 2025, at the age of 82. His cause of death has not been released publicly.

What is Parton doing next?

Dolly just released a memoir, Star of the Show: My Life on Stage, and rescheduled her Las Vegas dates for September 2026, when the country legend will be 80 years old. A musical based on her life,  Dolly: A True Original Musical, is also slated to open on Broadway in 2026.

In a November 12 People cover story, shot in August at her Nashville home, Parton declared, “People say, ‘Well, you’re going to be 80 years old.’ Well, so what? Look at all I’ve done in 80 years. I feel like I’m just getting started,” she says. “I know that sounds stupid, but unless my health gives way, which right now I seem to be doing fine . . . I think there’s a lot to be said about age. If you allow yourself to get old, you will. I say, ‘I ain’t got time to get old!’ I ain’t got time to dwell on that. That’s not what I’m thinking about.”