Dolly Parton Jokes Her Husband Was 'Jealous' of Her Viral Cheerleader Outfit: 'He Got a Kick Out of It' (Exclusive)

Dressed as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, Parton performed at the NFL team’s Thanksgiving Day game

You can take Dolly Parton out of the country, but you can’t take the country (or cowgirl!) out of Dolly Parton.

PEOPLE caught up with the global icon on the day of the launch of her new baking mixes with Duncan Hines, and she says the chocolate cake she bakes for husband Carl Thomas Dean isn’t the only thing she’s a fan of — just take a look at her viral Dallas Cowboys cheerleader outfit.

Just a few days after she released her latest album Rock star in November 2023, Parton took the stage at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas for the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Kickoff Halftime Show during the Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game, appropriately dressed for the occasion in a white vest with blue stars, a blue crop top and white shorts.

Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images

“It turned out pretty cool and my husband loved it. He said: ‘Those shorts were a little too short.’ I said, ‘Jealous?'” Parton recalls with a laugh.

“And I said, ‘They weren’t short like the other girls!’ He was just being funny. I think he thought – because everyone works around it – he thought, well, maybe he shouldn’t be showing his ass at that age. But anyway, he got a kick out of it too,” she adds.

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Parton and her husband have been married since 1966 — more than half of Parton’s life — and she just celebrated her 78th birthday last Friday. Her favorite gift was actually a very thoughtful, if belated, gift she just received, she tells PEOPLE.

“It was Carl and I’s glass heart when we were younger, and it was etched into the glass inside. You put it on a little light or a little podium and then it has a battery, and you can turn it on,” she says. “We go around and around and around. I think those kind of very personal gifts are always so sweet.”

Dolly Parton and husband Carl Thomas Dean. Dolly Parton/instagram

When Parton isn’t cooking or performing, she and Dean enjoy quality time together.

“My husband and I like to travel around in our little camper, our little camper, and just go out for a picnic by the river. I love coming home to East Tennessee, visiting friends and family, and I love to read. I’m an avid reader, so any great book I can get my hands on, I love to do so. I prefer reading to watching TV,” she says.

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As for Parton’s tips for feeling confident no matter what she’s wearing, whether it’s a kitchen apron or a tiny cheerleading costume, she says having fun comes first.

“I try not to get into something I don’t think I can pull off, like that little Dallas cowgirl outfit. I was really like, okay, I’m just going to do this for fun, because I mean, I’ve never been to one of their halftime shows, and they’re so famous, girls,” she says of the cheerleading squad.

“All the guys love them, including my husband, and I kind of did it for him. I thought, well, if I can pull this off, it’ll be cute, and if I don’t, then they’ll just think if some older woman did it stupidity!” she adds. “I just thought it was cool, and apparently it was because it turned out to be a huge sensation. So, maybe I’ll make a poster, a pinup and donate all the money to Red Kettle.”

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With that in mind, Parton has one message for all skeptics.

“Oh, I say, ‘To hell with you,'” she says. “I will do what I want.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education