Dolly Parton Once Said She Considered Suicide But Conquered Depression, a Resurfaced Interview Reveals

Dolly Parton once admitted that she went through such a bad phase of depression that she used to think about taking her own life.

In a resurfaced 2013 interview with 60 Minutes Australia, the country legend revealed that she was going through a “middle-age crisis” in the early days of her career.

So she gave herself an ultimatum, saying, “Either get off your fat a– and do something about it or go ahead and blow your head off.”

“And I thought, ‘Nah, I ain't gonna do that.’ You know, no matter what…those thoughts just come and go,” she amended.

The singer delved deeper into what put her in that dangerous state of mind, saying, “I went through a bad period of time back in the ’80s when I was going through the change."

She continued, "I was having some female problems, I was having some family problems, some emotional problems. And I was overweight. And I didn’t feel good about myself at all.”

“So I got myself in a pretty bad bind. And I understood at that moment how people do get on drugs, and how people do get on alcohol, and how people can commit suicide,” she explained.

“I didn’t do that because I still kept praying. I still kept holding onto G-- and hanging on to my friends. But it went through my mind,” she added.

The late singer, who passed away at the age of 80 last month, was then asked by the host whether her career upheavals at the time had anything to do with her deteriorating mental health.

“I never cared about that. No business thing has ever been able to get me that depressed,” she replied.

She also noted that her career problems often made her “angry” rather than let her spiral into depression.

She explained that it had to be “something very personal to ever get me to that. Either family, or some emotional thing.”

Parton also claimed that she believed that her mental health troubles at the time were a lesson.

“[It was] a thing G-- meant for me to go through so that I could completely feel for other people about everything,” she stated.

“I needed to know how everybody feels. So I have been everywhere,” she insisted.

The music icon also divulged that her “family problems cause me a lot of stress. But everybody’s [family] does.”

“I worry about if somebody in my family’s going through a divorce, or if they’re having a hard time, I’m having a hard time. I care too much,” she admitted.