“You don't have to look like this, you’re very beautiful, you don’t have to wear the blonde wigs, you don’t have to wear the extreme clothes, right?” asks Barbara Walters to living legend Dolly Parton in the classic insult-compliment-question format in a resurfaced 1977 interview.

Parton, wearing a giant blonde wig with a turquoise flower to match her bright turquoise jumpsuit does not take the bait. “It’s certainly a choice,” says Parton. “I don’t like to be like everybody else.” And then, some words to write down, tattoo on yourself, and then post on Instagram: “I would never stoop so low to be fashionable, that’s the easiest thing in the world to do.”

Walters continues with her patronizing line of questioning. “Do you feel like you're a joke, that people make fun of you?”



“Oh I know they make fun of me, but all these years the people have thought the joke was on me, but it’s actually on them,” says Parton. “I am sure of myself as a person. I am sure of my talent. I’m sure of my love for life and that sort of thing. I am very content, I like the kind of person that I am. So, I can afford to piddle around and do-diddle around with makeup and clothes and stuff because I am secure with myself.”

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Dolly Parton is a BOSS. ASS. BITCH. pic.twitter.com/wpwMCrAijW — Beaux Berry (@BewilderBerry) February 14, 2019

Twitter resurfaced the interview clip just yesterday to a community of Parton stans, myself included. With 23,866 likes and 6,789 retweets, there’s even further proof Parton was ahead of her time.



She’s big hair, big boobs, big talent, big ideas, and even bigger influence. It’s easy to see Parton’s feminine strength when Cardi B tweets you can twerk and still empower women or speak on politics, when Taylor Swift pulls her music from Apple and gets a international policy changed, or when Kim Kardashian-West covers Forbes after being told—again by Walters!—she has no talent.



You can watch the complete interview below if you’d like a dose of trailblazing Dolly Parton femininity right now. And to Barbara Walters, “Bless your heart.”

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In the South this look means "bless your heart," and that ain't always a compliment! 😅 pic.twitter.com/Sw5Frwyt4X — Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) March 16, 2018

Watch the complete interview below:

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Chloe Hall Beauty Director Chloe Hall oversees all beauty coverage at ELLE.com.

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