Dolly Parton’s Secret Tattoo Collection: How She Hides Her Body Art From the Public

You’ll probably never get a good look at them, but Dolly Parton has tattoos all over her body. The iconic country singer always wears long sleeves, thus hiding at least two tattoos on her arms: a butterfly and an angel. And other celebs claim they’ve seen tattoos on other parts of her body as well. Scroll below for more details on her ink. 

Why Does Dolly Parton Always Wear Long Sleeves?

In 1996, talk show host Jay Leno spied Dolly’s arm tattoos when she wore a dress with shoulder cut-outs on The Tonight Show. She told him she had a “little butterfly and a little angel, [her] guardian angel.” (You can get a glimpse of that butterfly here.)

Dolly revealed to W Magazine in 2021 that the reason for her inkings is that “Most of my tattoos came because I’m very fair and I have a tendency to scar when I get any kind of cut. I’ve had surgeries for different things, and if the scars didn’t heal properly, I just gotta put tattoos to take the sting out.”

The entertainer added that her tattoos are all in light colors and are more plentiful than people know. “I don’t have the real heavy, dark tattoos. Mine are all pastel. And I have more than one!” she confessed.

“I have a few little tattoos, but usually my tattoos were [from] before they became a fad,” she said in an interview, per Sounds Like Nashville. “I have a tendency to scar easy, and I’m so fair-skinned that I stay purple right where I’ve had a scar. So I started having little pastel tattoos — pastel butterflies or little things — just to cover scars.”

Additionally, Roseanne Barr discussed the singer’s body art in a 2011 interview. “Do you know who’s totally tattooed?” the controversial comedienne said. “I shouldn’t even tell this. Dolly Parton is totally tattooed … She showed me. She’s got all these awesome tattoos all over her body. No black or blue lines. All pastel, gorgeous bows all over everything.”

Also, in 2013, Absolutely Fabulous actress Jennifer Saunders said she was with Roseanne on one occasion when Dolly lifted up her top and revealed her breasts were covered in “the most beautiful angels and beautiful butterflies and baskets of flowers in pastel-colored tattoos.” Paparazzi seemed to get a glimpse of a rose petal tattoo right in Dolly’s cleavage when she wore a low-cut dress to the 2012 premiere of Joyful Noise, but the hitmaker later explained to Anderson Cooper she has no such ink in that particular place!

Well, the 9 to 5 actress may be frank about a lot of things, but a girl’s entitled to her secrets!