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Dolly Parton's Mother's Life Was Even MORE Disturbing Than You Think

Old Hollywood Files

91,370 views

There's a photograph inside a cabin at Dollywood — an elderly woman standing in a room that isn't really hers anymore, pointing to where the bed used to go. That's Avie Lee Parton, directing strangers to rebuild the hardest years of her own life for people who pay admission to walk through it.

Most people know her as a name inside a song about a coat. What gets lost is the actual record: a girl married at 15, twelve pregnancies carried on a heart already damaged by rheumatic fever, a one-room cabin with no electricity or running water, a husband who couldn't read his own name, and a baby boy named Larry who died within days of being born.

In this video, we go through what's actually documented about Avie Lee Parton's life — the physical toll of raising twelve children on almost nothing, the grief behind the coat Dolly made famous, the wedding day where she stood as nearly the only witness, and the medical care she never had access to until her daughter's fame could finally pay for it.

This isn't a story about a happy cabin on a mountain. It's the real life of the woman who made that story possible.

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20 Comments

@PerAllwin1963 4 weeks ago

Despite all these “negative” things, they grew up surrounded by love, which overrides all negativity.

@Shadrack69 4 weeks ago

And this woman created 12 kids all of whom did well, and one of them became one of the greatest and most beloved and most talented people in the world.

@Out_in_Nature-c4f 3 weeks ago

Dolly took all the younger siblings to live with her and Carl. She also bought a home for her parents to live.

@Cillsfillums 3 weeks ago

As a non American person, I’ve never understand how certain people romanticise poverty, especially the role of women living in poverty. There’s nothing romantic about 14 people in a single room without proper sanitation.

@TL747TL 3 weeks ago

Someone wrote a script in 10 minutes, threw in a few photos and plugged it into AI. Had it not been for Dolly’s tenacity and incredible talent, no one would know who Avie Lee was. Dolly honored her parents and blessed everyone near and dear to her. The world is a better place because of Dolly Parton.

@winifredherman4214 4 weeks ago

This turned out well for Dolly and her family, but there were thousands of others who lived the same life of deprivation and they stayed that way! No beautiful story, no Dolly money.

@HelenDower-s9m 4 weeks ago

My great grandmother ( maternal) had sixteen kids . She had to suffer the deaths of 6 children ,from what would be many treatable illnesses today .As well as the siblings who survived to adolescence or adulthood . By the time they were middle aged only six of those survived . My grandmother was one of the only women in her family that chose to become independent first , instead of getting married as a gateway to being outside of her father and brothers control or home . She did not have a child until she was almost 40 . She was married , but actually the main bread winner of her own marriage , and did so till after her husband died some 20 more years alone . My grandmother is one of the most heroic and courageous women I have ever known . She was born well before the early 1900's , NO cars or sometime no Toilets indoors. She died in the late 1970's . I can not imagine the profound reality of all that she witnessed historically and socially .

@listingsfor1 3 weeks ago

Narrator is trying hard to make this sound criminal, but I'm glad to see commenters noting that they had LOVING parents, a LOVING relationship with each other, grew up to be good people not on drugs or criminals, and prospered in spirit and body.

@tammyleath4964 4 weeks ago

My grandmother had 10 kids in a very poor household. Their house was very cold as well. My grandfather was made a living off of farming.

@guccipro1 3 weeks ago

My grandmother and great grandmother had the same if not worst life, It appears those days were very hard for many during that time frame and it’s heartbreaking

@laurieskipper9736 3 weeks ago

Why is everything in this so negative? Yes, they lived a hard life, especially the mother. But they also had some good memories. Why focus on ONLY the sad ones? This is SO CONTRARY to Dolly's view of life - WHICH SHE GOT FROM HER MOTHER!

@annatheinnotz4901 3 weeks ago

This is pretty much how life was , just be thankful you are here.

@dr.sherryleonard-foots4200 4 weeks ago

Dolly’s Mom Avíe Lee was a whole real life Hero!!

@LK_Ireland 3 weeks ago (edited)

I don't think the mother would like this video.

@bojanalukic8515 3 weeks ago

I’m 60, my mother was born in 1936. I have 5 sisters. She was educated, and worked since she was 20. For every child she had 4 months off job. We weren’t poor, something like middle class. I and my sisters studied on university and learned in one room with writing desks, architectural drawings table, painter's easel and semi-concert piano. My grandmother lived with us. My childhood was magical❤

@dianeregan4848 4 weeks ago

A remarkable STRONG WOMAN. LOVE HARD WORK AND LOVE. DOLLY ABSORBED THIS AND SHAPED HER. HER MOM IS A HERO WHO LOVED HER KIDS

@cherylsundin6253 4 weeks ago

This was most ordinary women 's reality until the 1960's. My grandparents and great-grandparents had similar experiences they shared. It was a hard life for many people. Dolly's mother was amazing to have survived it. My ancestors had a pattern of mothers' dying in child birth on the 5th-6th baby. The husband's would remarry quickly to have help with the baby and children, and then go on to father more children until that wife died. This was historical fact.

@margeryritchie97 3 weeks ago

Avie Lee was an amazing woman who made the best with what little she had. She had such strength of character and love.

@CM-oj3oi 4 weeks ago (edited)

And we complain when a nail pops out from the ceiling. Wow, thank you for the reminder of our ancestors. They worked so hard and went through so much and still had love in the family . My sister has a large family and i commend her. They are all great kids. And i just want to add… Mom, was having a hard life but she lived to see her greatest reward, her children grew up to be good successful people. Her kids loved their mom. Losing that child might have been so hard, in the end, that wonderful woman had 12 loving children.