Dolly Parton on Her Comeback, Her Gay Fans & Hillary Clinton
Growing up with Dolly Parton was pretty tough at times, writes her sister Stella in a touching new memoir.
Stella and Dolly were just two of the twelve children born into a "poor but proud" family who lived in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee.
They lived a shockingly simple life - with beds made of straw, no running water, gas or electricity.
"I loved hearing the sound of that straw. It"s great for sleeping because it sounds like rain," writes Stella in the book Tell It Sister Tell It: Memories Music and Miracles.
Stella, who is three years younger than the "Jolene" singer, describes how their "hard working, hard drinking" Daddy bartered for goods, services and medical care.
Mental health issues thwarted their mother, leaving Stella to care for the younger children.
The family was so cash-strapped when Dolly was born that her father gave the local doctor a bag of grain to persuade him to deliver her.
"Daddy paid Doctor Thomas a sack of meal to deliver dolly," writes Stella, now 62.
Tough act to follow: While Dolly rose to fame, Stella struggled to achieve her own profession in county music. She is now sharing her story in the new book, Tell It Sister Tell It: Memories Music and Miracles
"She was an expensive baby. Sometimes we"d pay him with chickens, whatever we had available."
While Dolly rose to childhood fame in the southern state Stella recalls being pushed to the sidelines.
"In my own mind I remain a little mountain girl sitting in the front yard with my big sister Dolly, making up songs," she writes.
"One of my earliest memories is of Dolly"s impatience with me because I couldn"t come up with a satisfactory line in one of these early collaborations. I think I was always a pain in her neck," she adds.
"All I wanted was to be included in what she was doing. All she wanted was for me to get lost."
Stella"s twenties were marred by abusive relationships and she survived a brutal attempted rape by a Tennessee official when she was 24.
"He slapped me so hard he broke my nose," recounts Stella of the attack.
"You can still see the scar on my face today - where the bone popped through the flesh."
While Dolly rose to mega-stardom and multi-million dollar record deals Stella struggled to achieve her own profession in county music.
"Either I can allow it [having a famous sister] to be a curse or I can find the blessing in it," she writes.
"Yes, doors have been slammed in my face and there are those who resent me today because they think: "How dare she try and have a career with Dolly being so successful - I bet she gets handouts all the time - I bet Dolly does everything for her.""
In the early years of their careers Stella recalls an insulting incident when their uncle, who was helping to manage Dolly, tried to force her out of the music industry all together.
"I remember it as if it was yesterday," writes Stella who was raising a baby as a single mother at the time.
"He said; "You need to take that kid of yours and go back home and work in the beauty shop where you belong."""
The uncle had decided that it would "hurt Dolly"s music career" if Stella was in the music business too.
Meanwhile Dolly spoke up and said: "Well Stella, if you are going to sing then you need to change your name," says the book.
Stella was "heartbroken" by the knockback but she persisted regardless - she went on to release 31 chart singles and tour internationally.
She adds: "People don"t really know my story. If you knew you"d be surprised not jealous. There are so many awkward situations to maneuver because of my relationship with my sister.
"People think I should be able to cut right to the front of the line because Dolly has been at the top of her game so long."
Her feelings of "exclusion" from Dolly in her younger years have left a mark: "Dolly found every reason in the world to keep me as far away as possible and over the years I finally gave up and let her have it," writes
Stella who clearly loves and respects her sister dearly - despite their past troubles.
"Dolly has done more to improve the lives of people in East Tennessee than anyone else I can think of in the last fifty years," she writes.
Sales from the book will help support domestic violence shelters across the US.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2072150/Dolly-Partons-sister-Stella-opens-difficult-relationship.html
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