Truly meant it when she said to love everybody.
As legendary as she was for her music, country legend Dolly Parton was maybe even more well known for her message of love and acceptance – a message that she not only preached, but exemplified herself in her own life.
Since her death on August 25, there’s been no shortage of people sharing their own memories and experiences with the Queen of Country Music. But one person who truly understands just how much Dolly lived by her message is Jimmie Allen.
Allen, of course, found himself at the center of two high-profile sexual assault lawsuits back in 2023. While he apologized to his wife and admitted to making some bad decisions, Allen has maintained his innocence and denied any allegations of sexual assault. (He has also not faced any criminal charges).
Soon after the lawsuits were filed, Allen was dropped by his record label, his management company and his publicist. But one person who never abandoned him was Dolly.
During an appearance on the That Nashville Girl podcast, Allen says that many people he considered friends stopped talking to him following the sexual assault allegations.:
“There was this, you know, this female artist in town. 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. Soon it came out, she didn’t call me, didn’t text me.
She just boom, unfollow me on social media. Ain’t heard from her since. And I was like, “Wow.” But yet I have people that I’ve never met reaching out, right?
People that I knew who they were and they knew me, but we weren’t close.”
But he also revealed that Dolly made it a point to check on him – and not just once:
“Dolly called me that day. 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. …
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 bit younger in this business, we understand what it is. We know 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.'”
But not only did Dolly support him personally, but he says that she also went to bat for him professionally. Shortly before the allegations had surfaced, Allen had filmed a role for her NBC Christmas special, Dolly Parton’s Magic Mountain Christmas. The made-for-TV movie featured cameos from several country stars, including Willie Nelson, Billy Ray Cyrus, and of course Jimmie Allen.
After the allegations against Allen surfaced though, the network wanted to remove his part from the movie – but Dolly wouldn’t let it happen:
“We filmed Dolly’s Smoky Mountain Christmas at the end of 2022, right? And this was the cool thing about Dolly. It was set to come out on NBC a month after my lawsuit came out, right? NBC tells Dolly, ‘Hey, we want to edit out Jimmie Allen.’ Dolly says to them, ‘If you edit out Jimmie, we’re not doing it at all. So, either Jimmie stays in or we’re not doing it.'”
Regardless of how you feel about Jimmie Allen, it’s admirable that Dolly refused to abandon someone at their lowest. Jesus stood by broken people and offered love and forgiveness to those who were hurting. And so did Dolly.
