Why Dolly Parton Is Childless By Choice (Not That We Deserve To Ask)

The decision to have or not have a child is a big one, with factors like maternal health, economic circumstances, and personal priorities being important factors. For Dolly Parton, who's among the many celebrities to be unapologetically child-free, her career as a country music icon played a major role in her choice to not have children. "When you're a young couple, you think you're going to have kids," Parton, who has been married to businessman Carl Thomas Dean since 1966, told Saga Magazine. "But it just wasn't one of those burning things for me. I had my career and my music and I was traveling" (per Marie Claire).

For prospective parents who want to prioritize their careers, understanding that the motherhood penalty harms working mothers is important, with Parton believing she wouldn't have been able to balance her stardom with motherhood. "I would have been a great mother, I think," she told The Guardian in 2014. "I would probably have given up everything else. Because I would've felt guilty about that, if I'd have left them [to work, to tour]. Everything would have changed. I probably wouldn't have been a star."

While Dolly Parton never became a mother herself, she's been able to share lots of love with her extended family. "I grew up in a big old family with eight kids younger than me and several of my brothers and sisters came to live with me early on in my life," she told People in 2014. "I've loved their kids just like they're my grandkids, and now I've got great-grandkids!" The "9 to 5" singer revealed that her nieces and nephews call her Aunt Granny and her husband, Carl Dean, Uncle PeePaw. Now that the children of her siblings have kids of her own, she's also adopted the nickname GeeGee, which equates to great-grandmother.

"I often think, it just wasn't meant for me to have kids so everybody's kids can be mine," she said. This sentiment extends to Parton's philanthropic work, as she's continually used her platform to give back to children. Through The Dollywood Foundation, the singer-songwriter has extended scholarships to students in Sevier County, Tennessee, and launched The Imagination Library, which gives out free books to children around the world. While Parton didn't take the traditional path of becoming a mother, her love has still made a major impact.