Dolly Parton hid her brief battle with cancer from the world, including her close friends.
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During an Aug. 25 appearance on CBS News, Cher said it was in Parton's "spirit" to stay tight-lipped about it.
"No matter what was happening, she was either going to go with it, or it was going to get better," Cher said. "She just had a spirit. A spirit that was always thinking the best was happening, the best was going to happen. Her friends loved her. Her life was good, you know? That's who she was."
Cher was not the only music icon unaware of Parton's health issues.
Country Music Hall of Famer Willie Nelson explained to CNN's Anderson Cooper that he and Parton were together not long before her death, and that he had no idea her health was waning.
"I had no idea," he said. "I did an interview with her shortly before that, and she seemed fine."
Nelson added that he recently recorded a cover of Parton's "I Will Always Love You" and called the record "a great, positive song."
Through the years, Nelson and Parton collaborated on several music projects and developed a decades-spanning friendship. During a 2014 interview with Salon, Parton described Nelson as a "joy."
"I've loved him since my first days in Nashville. We came here about the same time and we both worked with Combine Music and Monument Records and RCA," the "Jolene" singer said. "We were like little pals in the early days in the '60s. Trying to sing with him is almost funny. He's just so hard to catch because he's so different."
Following Parton's death, Nelson honored her by sharing the duo's performance of "Everything's Beautiful (In Its Own Way)" on Instagram.
Like Nelson, Parton remained passionate about music in her advanced age.
Parton's longtime manager, Danny Nozell, revealed on Friday that the "9 to 5" singer worked on unreleased projects leading up to her death.
"Dolly worked up until the day she died. She loved seeing her dreams come to life and loved knowing her work brought people joy. Ever the planner, Dolly worked with the team that she handpicked for the past several years to build a project roadmap that will guide us for decades to come," Nozell told The Hollywood Reporter.
