No one saw Dolly Parton without her hair and makeup done, even at the end of her life.
On August 25, 2026, the country icon sadly passed away at 80-years-old in Nashville Tennessee. Dolly had been dealing with undisclosed health issues for the last year or so, and she previously shared that she was having issues with severe kidney stones. Dolly’s reps confirmed she sadly died following a “brief battle with cancer,” though the specific kind was not revealed.
And according to TMZ, when Dolly was on her deathbed, she “was closing up and refusing to allow most friends and family to see her,” except for her her longtime wig and makeup artist, Cheryl Riddle. They report that Dolly’s dying wish was that no one, even her close family members, see her that way because she didn’t want them to remember her that way.
But in very true Dolly fashion, she wanted to look her best no matter what, and because she knew Cheryl would eventually be the one doing her hair and makeup, she was allowed to be by her side and during the open-casket funeral service, it sounds like Dolly looked as beautiful as always. Dolly famously slept in her hair and makeup, and even her sister Stella says she never saw her sister not all done up and put together.
It’s just who Dolly was, and I think it’s only fitting she carried that on even through her funeral. It’s also quite fabulous and SO her.
There was another person who saw Dolly just before she passed, and that was her nephew, Bryan Seaver, who was her head of security until very recently as he was fired be her estate. TMZ reports that even some of her siblings were denied entry where she was hospitalized at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville.
Dolly’s nephew and former head of security, Bran Seaver, saw Dolly the day before she passed, and Dolly reportedly told him once again that she wanted him to be the one to announce her death to the world, which he did. He wrote the announcement during the last day of her life, and recorded the speech at her studio, which is how the world found out she passed:
Dolly’s Estate Files Lawsuit Against Bryan Seaver
Following the firing of her nephew Bryan Seaver as head of security, according to People, Dolly’s estate has filed a suit against Seaver, claiming he threatened to smear Parton’s legacy and made repeated violent threats toward her employees.
You have to imagine Dolly would NOT be happy with how this is all playing out, but yesterday, She’s Alive, LLC (SAL), which Dolly created while she was alive to protect her legacy after her death, filed a lawsuit claiming Seaver became “emboldened” after his aunt’s death, which is what led to him being fired, and the trust was also granted a temporary restraining order against him.
The filling obtained by People says:
“Mr. Seaver began his campaign of threats, intimidation, and coercion a few weeks prior to Ms. Parton’s passing…. In writing, he vowed to ‘destroy the entire brand’ and also told her entertainment attorney: ‘I’m not an entertainment person. I’m a killer.’”
The claim also stated that Severe had threatened to “inflict reputational and economic harm” on his aunt’s brand in the weeks prior to her death, and he is also accused of “making threats of real-world violence” towards Dolly’s staff and others she worked closely.
The filing also stated:
“As the entity entrusted by Ms. Parton to protect and promote her life’s work for future generations, SAL must cultivate a safe work environment for employees, advisors, and partners, free from intimidation or hostility—particularly intimidation by an armed former security contractor. Without relief, Defendants’ calculated campaign will continue to inflict fear, to destabilize SAL’s operations, and to cause further irreparable harm.”
Text messages between Nozell and Seaver that were filed with the case show the singer’s nephew vowing to “set up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly’s brand partnerships” if he doesn’t get paid, just days after his aunt’s death.
In a statement to TMZ, Seaver says that he stands by most of his comments and claims the text messages were taken out of context:
“I am a career soldier and military contractor and do conduct arms deals for foreign governments. I am a security professional and I am a killer.
However, nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the comments I stand by.
I was talking frankly in a private way with Danny who I thought was my friend and he fancies himself a gangster. A lot of these messages are two guys having rage talk and crying on the phone together while we were grieving.”
Interestingly, Bryan Seaver’s sister, Rebecca, is the executive director of her new Life of Many Colors Museum.
Whether you’re a famous family or not, it’s unfortunately pretty normal for there to be family drama in the wake of a death, but it seems like this is getting really ugly, and surely, her family fighting and things going bad like this is not at all what Dolly would have wanted, and it’s a real shame.
I guess we’ll see how this all continues to play out, but of course, you would hope that this isn’t true and Seaver didn’t say or do all of those alleged things in the filing, because if he did, that’s a disgusting disservice to the extraordinary life and legacy his aunt left behind.
