Dolly Parton has consistently brought a certain level of candor to discussions about her face for many years. You begin to notice that she never really modifies her tone when you watch old clips of her on Larry King in 2003, Howard Stern years later, and sitting across from Ray Martin on 60 Minutes Australia last year. The line about something sagging or dragging, the shrug, and the laugh are all the same. When the subject is brought up, most celebrities become tense. Dolly appears to bend closer.
Many people forget that she didn’t touch her face until she was forty. Before that, she admitted to having a breast augmentation done before the big four-zero. She seemed to almost see the chest as a component of her costume. Stage apparatus. However, she treated the face differently, and her descriptions of that difference over the years seem thoughtful. Even cautious. She told Stern, “You’ve just got to be very careful not to overdo it,” and since she had already shown that she meant it, the line landed.
A few years ago, Dr. Frederick Weniger, a board-certified plastic surgeon from Hilton Head, provided one of the more fascinating public evaluations of her face. According to his assessment, her practices seem “carefully maintained” despite spanning decades; in other words, they are strategic rather than panicked. He gestured to her midface, which appeared elevated, the skin strangely taut for a woman her age, and the lack of sagging around the neck. Perhaps lip work, fat grafting, or a facelift. It’s difficult to ignore the fact that he was not reaching. If you know where to look, the signs are there.
The way Dolly herself discusses the setbacks is intriguing. She will casually bring up a haematoma as though it were a kitchen accident. She will talk about the Botox swelling that needs to go down before she can go out in public. That level of detail has an almost generous quality. It breaks the illusion that cosmetic procedures are hygienic or enchanting. It isn’t. Dolly seems to want fans to know that it’s medical.
It is important to acknowledge the cultural significance of her candor. Hollywood has kept plastic surgery under wraps for the majority of the past 40 years. Joan Rivers used to make jokes about how her doctor had a frequent-flyer program because she had so much work, but she was the exception. Denial has been the standard, followed by half-truths and the awkward Vogue cover essay that confirmed what everyone already knew. Dolly ignored all of that. When she told the Chicago Tribune what she had done in 1992, she went straight to the front of the line and never really backed down.
She is now eighty years old. She made a joke in January about wanting to live to be eighty years old and keep her plastic surgery “in line.” Even though it was a throwaway line, people remembered it. She doesn’t seem to be finished with the music, wigs, or upkeep. It’s difficult to determine whether that is showmanship, vanity, or a Tennessee mix of the two. Most likely all three. And that’s most likely the point.
