She always said that it took a lot of money to look that cheap.
The legendary Dolly Parton was known as much for her signature look as she was for her music. Big hair, lots of makeup, plastic surgery for anything that was, in her words, “baggin’, saggin’ or draggin,” and of course her eye-catching outfits and heels that made her stand out in a crowd – even more than she already did.
Dolly even revealed that her signature look was inspired by…a local prostitute in her hometown:
“I kind of patterned my look after the town tramp. I didn’t know what she was, just this woman who was blonde and piled her hair up, wore high heels and tight skirts, and, boy, she was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. Momma used to say, ‘Aw, she’s just trash,’ and I thought, ‘That’s what I want to be when I grow up. Trash.’”
But unfortunately for Dolly, before she was a worldwide icon and a household name, some people assumed that she, too, was…a prostitute.
The late country singer once recalled her first trip to New York City, during which she was unceremoniously kicked out of her hotel after being mistaken for a hooker.
As she recalled during a 2005 interview with Conan O’Brien, the incident happened early in her career when Dolly and her childhood best friend, Judy, decided they wanted to take a trip to the Big Apple:
“The first time I was ever here, I guess it was in the late 60’s, early 70’s, and I had just started making a name in country music. So of course, all the country girls wanna go to the city, so my girlfriend Judy Ogle and I, we thought, well we’ll just go to New York.
So we came up here, we didn’t have any money at that time, I was just beginning to make it.”
And Dolly admits that she’s not surprised the staff may have been a little skeptical of the pair, given their looks:
“We checked in a hotel, and we’ve been friends since we were little, so we just got one room, and of course, I looked cheaper then than I even do now… and Judy didn’t look any better.
So we check into this hotel and they thought we were hookers.”
Well after checking in, Dolly and her friend decided to venture out to explore the big city. But while they were out exploring, the hotel took all of their luggage out of their room and put it in the hallway, assuming they were prostitutes:
“And so we went out lookin’ around in the city and we come back to our room and they had our luggage out in the hall, and they had us locked out, ‘cuz they thought we were turning tricks up there.
They threw us out!”
The hotel did at least let them keep their luggage in the lobby until they were able to find their way back home, but man…imagine realizing later that you kicked Dolly Parton out of your hotel.
Naturally, it sounds like Dolly handled the situation with grace and humor, which is just part of the reason she became such a legend and has inspired so many tributes since her tragic death earlier this week.
They don’t make ’em like Dolly anymore.
