NEED TO KNOW
Like love, a crush is a burning thing — just ask Dolly Parton.
The country legend met her first crush, Johnny Cash, when she was just 13, and he introduced her debut performance at the Grand Ole Opry.
“I was starstruck with Johnny Cash — that was when he was young,” Parton, now 79, tells PEOPLE. “I was a young girl, and that was the first time I ever knew or understood what sex appeal was, or that feeling that made you just feel all kinds of things all over your body.”
While the young Parton had “had little crushes on boyfriends,” she was drawn to Cash’s charm.
“That’s when my hormones [were] beginning to rage, and I just felt all those feelings for him, because he was very charismatic,” Parton says. “I thought about it years later. That’s the first time I understood what they call charisma. Or whatever that thing is that people have. Well, he had that thing, and it worked its magic on me.”
Parton adds that she stayed friends with Cash over the years and “told him that he was my first big crush.” She also once joked with Cash’s wife, June Carter Cash, about her crush: “I told June that years later. I told her, ‘I had him first. I loved him before you did.’”
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
That memory with Cash holds a special place in Parton’s heart, as it marked a milestone in her iconic career.
“Having him introduce me that night as a very young girl — I was just teenager, and I got to sing on the Grand Ole Opry — that was a magic night,” Parton says. “I felt special that night, too.”
Parton looks back on her legacy as a performer in Star of the Show: My Life on Stage, which also gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at her career.
Ten Speed Press
One of Parton’s own behind-the-scenes stars was her late husband, Carl Dean, who died in March.
“Ours is a great old love story. Most people don’t stay that close that long,” Parton says of their nearly 59-year marriage. “That’s a loss. Nobody can ever know that unless you’ve experienced it yourself. He will always be in my heart and in my memories.”
While he largely stayed out of the spotlight, “without Carl, I wouldn’t be here,” Parton says.
