Billy Ray Cyrus Reveals Dolly Parton’s Final Words to Him — And They Sound Exactly Like Her

Billy Ray Cyrus says one of the last messages he ever got from Dolly Parton held the same simple sentiment that had defined their friendship for more than thirty years — she loved him with her whole heart. After her passing, those words hit differently. Not because they read like a formal goodbye, but because they sounded so completely like her: warm, straightforward, no hesitation.

Their friendship went back decades, long before the world knew Miley Cyrus as Dolly’s goddaughter. It started in the early 1990s, back when tabloids tried to twist their close professional bond into a scandal. Billy Ray has talked before about walking into Dolly’s dressing room in 1992 to apologize for the rumors swirling that they were having an affair. According to him, she just winked and laughed it off, joking that a little scandal never hurt record sales. More than three decades later, that friendship hadn’t gone anywhere. And when he looked back after she passed, it was that final message of love he said he’d carry with him for the rest of his life.

Miley’s Bond With Dolly Went Even Deeper

Dolly became Miley’s godmother because of her friendship with Billy Ray, but over the years that title turned into something far bigger than a formality. Miley grew up calling her “Aunt Dolly,” worked beside her on Hannah Montana, sang duets with her, and has described her again and again as both an idol and a moral compass.

What stood out most, according to Miley, is that Dolly never once tried to control her career — not even during the years when Miley faced brutal public criticism for reinventing herself. Instead, Dolly pushed her to find her own voice, defended her publicly when others wouldn’t, and reminded her that no amount of fame should ever change how she treated people. Miley has said Dolly taught her to acknowledge everyone on a set, right down to the person at the very bottom of the call sheet — because how you treat people matters more than how successful you become. That lesson traced back to Dolly’s own childhood as one of twelve kids growing up in rural Tennessee, long before the world knew her name.

“Behind the Stage and Beneath the Glamour”

After Dolly’s death, Miley made clear that the most meaningful parts of their relationship would stay private — memories that lived behind the stage and underneath all the glamour, meant only for the two of them. But she did share one detail from one of their last real conversations: they’d talked about music and transformation.

Miley says she now knows exactly what Dolly would want her to do with her grief — feel it completely, turn it into a song, and keep moving forward. The symbolism wasn’t lost on anyone. Dolly had spent years encouraging Miley to keep changing without ever losing who she really was, once comparing her to a young woman learning to use her wings. Now Miley has to do exactly that, without the person who guided her through every transformation before this one. Her tribute closed with the belief that Dolly will keep showing up in all the beautiful things around her — but underneath that message was something simpler: keep creating.

Stella Parton Shares a Side Few Ever Saw

That same instinct — to give rather than hold on — shows up in what Dolly’s younger sister, Stella Parton, has shared as well. Stella recalled their standing Tuesday morning phone calls, a tradition the sisters kept for years, often before the sun came up, each sipping coffee on their own end of the line while they gossiped and made plans.

Stella also revealed something Dolly reportedly said during her final illness: if doctors ever determined there was truly no hope of recovery, she’d still want to try experimental treatment — not necessarily to save herself, but because it might help researchers learn something that could help another patient down the road. Stella said that instinct was completely, unmistakably Dolly. Her whole life had been shaped by that same pattern — philanthropy, mentorship, turning personal fortune into something useful for other people.

Even her complicated feelings about never having children eventually folded into that same philosophy. Dolly once said she came to believe that maybe she was meant to share that kind of maternal love more broadly — including with Miley. What began as a simple friendship with Billy Ray eventually grew into something where Dolly got to watch Miley grow up with a pride she herself once called almost maternal.

Three Different Memories, One Same Woman

Billy Ray, Miley, and Stella each carry a different piece of the same person: the friend who laughed off tabloid rumors, the godmother who quietly shaped a young star’s values without ever trying to control her, and the sister who was still thinking about strangers while facing her own mortality.

Billy Ray’s last message from her was about loving fully. Miley’s last real conversations with her were about change, and what to do with emotion once there are no easy words left. Neither memory sounds like a staged goodbye — and that might be exactly why both carry so much weight.

Dolly Parton spent most of her life teaching the people closest to her through ordinary, everyday conversations rather than grand speeches. When those conversations became her last ones, the message didn’t change one bit.

Love people fully. Turn what hurts into something you make. And keep moving forward.