Add The New York Post on Google Fans of Dolly Parton blasted a Washington Post journo who praised the late country star for “choosing against parenting” – without mentioning the singer’s reported fertility issues.
Ashley Fetters Maloy, a features reporter for the struggling paper, published a column Wednesday lauding Parton for not having children, titled, “Why it matters that Dolly Parton wasn’t a mother.”
“With decades of philanthropy, she proved that parenting isn’t the only way to invest in generations of children,” Fetters Maloy wrote a day after the iconic singer-songwriter’s death at age 80.
“She was a vocal nonparent who nevertheless cared greatly about kids, as a population and a part of our world.
“To me, Parton’s lack of children demonstrated that the world could in fact love a woman who wasn’t a mother. But more importantly, she was proof that a person could be an advocate and friend for children while personally choosing against parenting,” Fetters Maloy continued.
“She was a reassurance that voluntary childlessness doesn’t reflect inherent selfishness, and that parenting is far from the only way to invest in the kids who are all of our future.”
Devoted fans of the beloved country queen took issue with the article, noting that it excluded any mention of Parton’s battle with endometriosis, which can cause fertility issues.
Some also slammed the article for an apparent double standard, arguing that the parental status of famous men is never mentioned in their memorials.
“Why is this even being discussed??? This is the least interesting thing about her, and absolutely none of our business if any woman doesn’t have children,” one Instagram user wrote in a comment underneath the article.
Another chimed in: “Rolling my eyes at this article. There are so many interesting things to say about Dolly beyond the fact that she never became a mother. I can’t remember ever seeing an article about a recently deceased man where the focus was on the fact that he didn’t have children. It’s 2026. Do better, Washington Post.”
Yet another user wrote: “She did not choose to be childfree. She used to have severe endometriosis. Why don’t you do your research. And: Did you ever bring up men’s parental status when they have left us?! Why always with women?!”
The Washington Post and Fetters Maloy did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
The article – just one of dozens this week remembering the rhinestone-loving legend’s decades-long career – mentioned that Parton “tried unsuccessfully to get pregnant” in the early years of her 58-year marriage to Carl Thomas Dean.
It then quoted a BBC interview from 1978 in which a 32-year-old Parton said, “We don’t want children of our own because we always have somebody’s children. We don’t want the total responsibility because we both know what it’s like to know that joy of raising children, but he [Carl] is free and independent. He’s as independent as I am in his way.”
The article did not mention that Parton was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis in the 1980s and underwent a partial hysterectomy. In 1982, she reportedly canceled a tour while suffering abdominal pain and bleeding.
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In a 1984 interview with Andy Warhol for Interview magazine, Parton said: “I couldn’t have children, I tried to for years. I’ve never been pregnant in my life. When I was a girl and fooling around, I was scared to death I’d get pregnant, and then when I got married and wanted to have children, I couldn’t have any.
“But I don’t miss it,” she added. “I did for awhile, but I realize that I am everybody’s mother. I’ve raised five of my younger brothers and sisters, and now their kids call me Aunt Grannie. I’m like the grandma and the aunt.”
In 2020, Parton told Oprah Winfrey that she believed “God didn’t mean for me to have kids so everybody’s kids could be mine, so I could do things like the Imagination Library” – her literacy nonprofit that gifted more than 330 million books to children.
Parton hinted at her struggle with endometriosis in a statement shared with People magazine on Aug. 21, just four days before her death, as she discussed her health issues after the passing of her husband last year.
“As I’ve shared in video messages throughout the past year, I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” Parton said at the time. “You know, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to manage something like this. Back in the early 80s, I was down for several months with female issues.”
Endometriosis is an often-painful condition in which tissue similar to the inner lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Instead of shedding like the uterine lining, the tissue stays in the body and can cause extremely painful periods, excessive bleeding and fertility issues, especially if left untreated.
