Country music icon Dolly Parton passed away suddenly on August 25 at the age of 80. In a statement following her passing, the Jolene creators' rep confirmed that she passed away after a brief battle with cancer.
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For the most part, Parton kept her cancer diagnosis under wraps. But one person who was aware that she was dealing with the illness was her niece, Danielle Parton.
Parton's Niece Reveals How She Found Out About Aunt's Cancer
When speaking with Extra's Mona Kosar Abdi, the star's niece revealed that she is also dealing with a "cancer battle," right now. She noted that she had figured out that Parton was dealing with the illness during a conversation that had. When she informed Parton of her diagnosis, roughly three weeks before she passed away.
"She took it really heavy, and that's how I figured it out. I didn't know, like anybody else, what she was dealing with. Knew she was sick ... I think it was around August 6 when I talked to her, and I figured out that she was dealing with cancer most likely at that point," she said to the outlet.
"And so, she was just devastated that I was going through it, and I remember telling her, I'm like, 'Look, you gotta get it together. It ain't that deep. I just wanted you to know 'cause she knew I was having a biopsy. If she remembered, she would have got all over me. She'd have called and really chewed me a good one."
As for Danielle's prognosis, she says that she is at "stage zero" and is grateful that her doctors were able to recognize the cancer early.
Parton did not publicly disclose her illness to anyone in the months leading up to her passing. Following the singer'sdeath, one of her closest friends, Cher, said she understood Dolly's decision to keep things private.
"No matter what was happening, she was either going to go with it, or it was going to get better," Cher said (via Entertainment Weekly). "She just had a spirit, and it was 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."
