Country music icon Dolly Parton has faced claimed she is gravely ill as she quipped ‘I ain’t dead yet’ while her pal Reba McEntire responded to a fake AI photo of them at her deathbed
Dolly Parton’s close friend Reba McEntire has slammed a photo circulating online of her sat next to the country music icon on her “deathbed”. The Jolene hitmaker, 79, was forced to speak out after an AI hoax image went viral.
She settled the score amid rumours she was seriously unwell and even on her deathbed after postponing her Las Vegas residency. Dolly humorously hit back that she “ain’t dead yet” following concerns after her sister publicly asked people to “pray” for her.
The country legend made light of the AI image showing Reba beside her hospital bed, before reassuring supporters once more that death wasn’t knocking at her door. Reba has since issued her own message as she branded it “crazy”.
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The Fancy hitmaker, 70, said: “You tell ’em, Dolly, that AI mess has got us doing all kinds of crazy things. You are out there dying, I’m out here having a baby.” She shared a fake photo of her holding a sonogram before adding: “Well, both of us know you’re too young and I’m too old for any of that kind of nonsense..
“You better know I’m praying for you. I love you with all my heart, and I can’t wait to see you soon.” Alongside the clip, Reba commented: “Too young to die, too old for babies [laughing emoji] I love you, @DollyParton! See you soon.”
Dolly added a red love heart emoji under Reba’s post. Responding to the fake picture and concerns, Dolly filmed a video of herself all glammed up in a red fringe shirt and black trousers.
She urged: “I wanted to say, I know lately everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am. Do I look sick to you? I’m working hard here!” Dolly explained she wanted to calm worries and shared how she was handling matters she put aside while looking after her late husband, Carl Dean.
Dolly said: “I’ve got some problems, as I mentioned, back when my husband Carl was very sick, that was for a long time, and then when he passed, I didn’t take care of myself, so I let a lot of things go that I should have been taking care of.
“So, anyway, when I got around to it, the doctor said, ‘We need to take care of this, we need to take care of that,’ nothing major. But I did have to cancel some things so I could be closer to home.
“But I wanted you to know that I’m not dying.” Dolly laughed as she mentioned the fake photo with Reba and added: “Did you see that AI picture of Reba and me? I mean they had Reba at my deathbed. And we both looked like we needed to be buried.
“I thought, oh my Lord. But if I was really dying, I don’t think Reba would be the one at my deathbed. She might come visit me, earlier. Anyway, there’s just a lot of rumors flying around, but I figured if you’d heard it from me, you’d know that I was okay.
“So, anyhow, that’s what I wanted to say, and I’m not ready to die yet.” Rumours started to spread when Dolly’s sister Freida asked fans to pray for her amid “health challenges”.
Her other sister Stella then shared Dolly had been struggling with kidney stones as the musician’s UK manager confirmed the post had been “blown out of proportion”. Dolly had announced last month she would be postponing her Las Vegas residency until September next year.
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