Dolly Parton knew she wanted to be a famous singer and songwriter from a young age. It quickly became clear to those around her that she had a gift. Her Uncle Bill was also a musician, and he recognized his niece’s passion for music. So he’d take her all over to perform and audition for various singing opportunities. Once the young “Jolene” singer started to gain some traction in her early career, her peers at school started to pick on her.

Dolly Parton’s first paid gig   

One of the auditions Uncle Bill brought Parton to was for The Cas Walker Show. Parton was hired when she was about 10 years old to sing on the radio and at events for grocery store mogul Cas Walker. Like Uncle Bill, Walker knew Parton was something special, even at 10 years old. It was performing for Walker that Parton got over her shyness and resolved to become a star. 

Parton’s peers resented her for her local fame 

Parton didn’t have an easy time at school before she started singing on the radio, TV, and performing around town. As she sings about in “Coat of Many Colors,” based on a true story, Parton’s classmates also bullied her because she was poor.  

“It got harder and harder to go to school after I became ‘locally famous,’” Parton wrote in her first memoir, Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. “There were those who resented me, and they weren’t at all subtle about showing it.”

The ‘Two Doors Down’ singer’s classmates locked her in a closet 

One day, Parton’s classmates locked her in a closet at school. 

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“At first I thought they were just kidding around, but when they hadn’t let me out after about ten minutes, I began to cry and beat on the door,” she wrote. “Of course, when somebody locks you in a closet, that’s exactly what they’re hoping you will do. That added to their enjoyment. I don’t know how long it was before somebody let me out, but it seemed to me like an eternity. I remember the dank, musty smell of that old closet and the sweaty smell of the coats.”

But the worst part, to Parton, was how dark it was. As a child, she was afraid of the dark. This incident only cemented the fear for life.  

“I began to imagine all kinds of terrible things that might be surrounding me in my prison,” she wrote. “I started to feel like I couldn’t breathe. I thought if I didn’t get out of there, I would die. I don’t know if it was the treatment itself or the hate I could sense behind it that made this such a horrible nightmare for me. To this day, I am afraid of the dark and I sleep with a night-light on.”

Despite the treatment Parton got at school, she carried on with her dreams. Bullies weren’t going to keep her from becoming who she knew she was meant to be.