Jane Fonda became emotional discussing her longtime friend Dolly Parton in a new interview after the musician’s death.
“She meant love,” Fonda, 88, said while trying to hold back tears during the Monday, August 31, episode of Democracy Now! “She really did. She loved everyone.”
The 9 to 5 actress remembered spending 10 days with Parton on a tour bus as they explored Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas and other parts of the country. The lessons and memories from the trip remain with Fonda today.
“I was in deep hollows of Tennessee and Arkansas where people lived in tarpaper shacks with no electricity or running water, and [Dolly] would come in in her full regalia,” Fonda shared. “They loved her so much that they accepted my presence. And it was so clear that she absolutely respected them.”
She continued, “That was why there was so much love. She never played down. She always was pulled together. She was always who she was out of respect for her fans. She taught me the importance of acknowledging and respecting fans.”
News broke on August 25 that Parton had died peacefully in Nashville at the age of 80. Although her official cause of death has yet to be announced, a spokesperson for the country music icon revealed that she died following a “brief battle with cancer.”
While Parton may be most remembered for being a singer and philanthropist, Fonda praised the performer as a feminist.
“She knew from the get-go who she was,” Fonda shared. “She knew that people would make fun of who she was because of how she looked. And so she did it first, and she did it so smart, and she was always in charge of her life.”
The Oscar winner continued, “She wasn’t dumb. She had the ability, like X-Ray vision, she could see through people to their essence. Whatever the outside was, she could see, good or bad, to the essence of a person.”
Parton was laid to rest during an intimate memorial service on Friday, August 28.
Her team previously confirmed that she was actively working on several business opportunities up until her death. Plans to continue Dolly Parton’s SongTeller Hotel, Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum, Dolly: A True Original Musical and other projects remain on schedule.
“Dolly will always be with us because she was so present, so powerful, so generous and playful that she is woven into all our lives and hearts forever,” Fonda wrote via Instagram on August 25. “Let’s be grateful for all that she has left us to ease our sadness now.”
In lieu of flowers, the family continues to ask for donations to be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age 5, no matter their family’s income.
