“If you keep yourself out of the game for fear of losing, there is no way on this Earth you’re going to win.”
This was the first life lesson Dolly Parton delivered in her earliest appearance on Hannah Montana as the ebullient Aunt Dolly. Parton may have
been talking to her on-screen goddaughter Miley Stewart, played by her real-life goddaughter Miley Cyrus, but her words resonated with the audience of young girls watching. In that moment, she wasn’t just acting as a sassy godmother with long acrylic nails, big hair, and a Southern twang — she was becoming a godmother for a whole new generation of young fans who may not have known this was the same icon behind “Jolene.”
When Dolly Parton died on Aug. 25, it felt like the entire world was grieving the rhinestone magic she seemed to spread into every corner of the universe, from music to movies to philanthropy. But for many zillennials, Parton’s loss doubled as the loss of Aunt Dolly, the bold, wise figure we’d come to know and love from her memorable appearances on Hannah Montana.
In a video announcing her death, Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver said, “She has always been on your television, your record player, your CD and on your phone playlist, becoming an extended part of your family.” Even Cyrus thought so. “She may be my fairy godmother, but I think she’s that to everyone else too. I am happy to share her with the world,” the singer wrote in 2021 in a piece honoring Parton as one of Time magazine’s most influential people.
From her first appearance on the Disney Channel show in 2006, in an episode aptly titled “Good Golly Miss Dolly,” to her last in 2010, that’s exactly what Parton was. More than just a member of the autofictional Stewart family, she felt like the glamorous fairy godmother who adorned everything with bright pink hues and imparted wisdom and wit all in one go. “Being a teenage girl is harder than walkin’ through a balloon shop with a porcupine purse,” she quipped in her first Hannah Montana episode. Real. By her last episode, she reminded audiences, “It’s never too late to kiss those fears goodbye.”
As Aunt Dolly, Parton played an exaggerated version of her larger-than-life self, often poking fun at her over-the-top persona. In one scene, she pulls a bubblegum-pink flip phone from her beehive hairdo with the explanation, “Well honey, when your pants are as tight as mine, you got to have somewhere to put your phone!” During her second appearance in Season Two’s “I Will Always Loathe You” (a reference to her 1973 ballad “I Will Always Love You”) Parton upped the ante as she played the foil to Miley’s demure grandmother Mamaw, portrayed by Vicki Lawrence. She dressed in her Cool Aunt best, donning a leather vest and cheetah-print pants and promising to take Miley shopping and buy her something she’ll “actually want to be seen in” after Mamaw had already offered. Parton also helped give the internet one of the best reaction videos when she and Mamaw got into an onstage squabble.
It wasn’t just audiences that felt a whole new relationship with the icon. Parton was also deeply impacted by her brief role on the show for years to come. In 2009, she said Hannah Montana was “probably the best move” she had ever made. Later, in 2021, the superstar doubled down. “Thanks to [Cyrus], I had a whole new following of people that were turned on to me … These young little kids were her fans and kids that were fans of just the whole show and the other little artists on the show,” Parton told Vanity Fair. For the show’s 20th anniversary, she reminisced on her time on the Disney Channel. “When Hannah Montana came on the air and Miley Cyrus, my little goddaughter, was the star of it, I was so proud of her. I thought she was sensational,” Parton wrote on Facebook.
Parton’s indelible mark on the show was felt long after it was over. In March, Cyrus admitted that Dolly unknowingly helped bring the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special to life. “I learned this terrible habit — but I actually think it was good advice — from Dolly,” she told Variety. “She told me that if you want something to happen, promote it before it exists. Then no one can say no. So I just started promoting a Hannah Montana 20th-anniversary special that literally did not exist.”
After Parton’s death, Cyrus shared a touching tribute to her godmother. “I have an angel by my side. I always have,” she wrote. Now, the generation that fell in love with Aunt Dolly on Hannah Montana just gained one too.
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