For years there have been rumors that Parton is covered in tattoos, but the country singer has never confirmed nor has she necessarily denied it.
In 1996, Jay Leno spotted a tattoo on her arm when she appeared on The Tonight Show wearing a dress with cutouts. Parton shared she did in fact have some body ink, a “little butterfly and a little angel, [her] guardian angel.”
Years later she elaborated on her tattoos.
“I have a few little tattoos, but usually my tattoos were before they became a fad. I have a tendency to scar easy and I’m so fair-skinned that I stay purple right where I’ve had a scar. So I started having a a little pastel tattoos, pastel butterflies or little things, just to cover scars,” she said in an interview per Sounds Like Nashville.
She told Vanity Fair in 2017 she doesn’t like to make a “big to-do of [the tattoos] because people make such a big damn deal over every little thing.”
“I’m not trying to make some big, bold statement.”