Why Dolly Parton Rejects Offers to Join American Idol and The Voice

Dolly Parton revealed in an exclusive interview with E! News that while she’s been approached to judge on American Idol and become a coach on The Voice, she isn’t interested for one important reason.

Don’t expect Dolly Parton‘s 9 to 5 to include offering musical criticisms on American Idol or The Voice.

The country music legend is ruling out the idea of joining the judges’ panel—or sitting in the iconic red swivel chair—on talent competition series. And her reasoning is quite simple.

“I’ve been asked to do that a lot of times,” the 79-year-old told E! News’ Will Marfuggi in an exclusive interview. “It’s too hard for me. That’s why I don’t accept it, because I know how sincere everybody is. Even if they’re not that good, they believe they are. And I just can’t hurt people.” (For more from Dolly, tune in to E! News at 11 p.m.).

But while Dolly isn’t interested in taking a seat at the judges table, she has appeared on Idol, serving as a guest mentor in 2008 during its seventh season, during which the top nine contestants—including winner David Cook—performed her songs. The Grammy winner also worked as a guest mentor on The Voice twice, once in season nine in 2015 and again in season 11 in 2016.

These days, Dolly is concentrating on other ventures. The show Dolly: An Original Musical, inspired by the singer’s life and career, is set to open Broadway in 2026. Plus, her Tennessee-based theme park Dollywood, just marked a milestone 40th anniversary.

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And Dolly, who recently made a special appearance during its recent celebration, remembers feeling worried that nobody would visit when the place first opened.

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“I thought, well, what if they don’t? What am I going to do?” she recalled. “Then, I started seeing cars coming in, and I remember how exciting that feeling was when the parking lot filled up. Now it’s filling up all the time. And 40 years later, we’ve got them still coming.”

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Dolly continued, “I’m just very proud of all of it, because I’ve seen it grow. It’s like having a house full of kids. Every time something new goes in, it’s like, ‘Oh, we got a new baby, we got a new kid in the family.’ But it’s an amazing park and it’s catered to families. And so we’re proud of that. I think I’m as proud of that as anything, that people want to come back.”

Look back at Dolly’s best looks over the years.

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