Jimmie Allen has opened up about a pretty dark time in his life—and how Dolly Parton helped him through it.
In case you weren't aware, back in 2023, Jimmie Allen was in some controversy after two high-profile sexual assault cases came to light. We reported on it when it happened—Allen ended up countersuing following two lawsuits.
For the record, to this day, the country singer maintains his innocence—and no charges ended up getting filed.
In any case, the lawsuits themselves were a lot of bad publicity for Allen. This meant that those closest to him in terms of business relations (his record label, his management, and even his publicist) had severed ties.
And it wasn't just his business relations—even his friends had distanced themselves. He explained what people did to him on an episode of the That Nashville Girl podcast, per Whiskey Riff.
"There was this, you know, this female artist in town," he recalled. "I was friends with her for a long time, right? Got her a record deal. She's one of the biggest artists in country music." (He didn't specify who it was.)
He continued, "Soon it came out, she didn't call me, didn't text me, she just, *boom*, unfollowed me on social media. Ain't heard from her since. And I was like, 'Wow!'"
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Dolly Parton Called the Country Singer
But who else but Dolly Parton would have his back? They had previously worked together on Dolly's Smoky Mountain Christmas toward the end of 2022. So, they had a previous working relationship.
"Dolly called me that day," he recalled. "We talked for a long time, and then she called me every day for the next three months and then even after that she called me at least once a week to check on me." What a sweetheart!
"Dolly said to me, she said, 'Listen, I know who you are. I've met you, I've been around you, I've watched you.' And she said, 'A lot of people my age, a little younger in this business, we understand what it is.'"
"'We know [the] fact of the matter is you had an affair with this girl. She wanted more; you didn't; you ended it; she got pissed; here comes a lawsuit. Tale as old as time.'"
