Dolly Parton has been known as the queen of country music for decades, but her road to stardom was anything but easy.

Parton grew up living in a one room cabin with her 11 siblings in Sevier County, Tennessee. The family was so poor that they could not even afford to go see a doctor when one of them got sick.

Parton recently opened up about an accident she suffered when she was “probably about six or seven” that nearly cost her a foot. Since her family could not take her to the doctor, Parton’s mother put cornmeal and kerosene on the gash then sewed it shut.

“They put kerosene on it for antiseptic and momma took her sewing needles — she used to make our quilts and stuff, and she literally had to sew my toes back on. But they worked and they healed and I’m still walking on them,” Parton said.

Though Parton’s childhood was difficult, she has said that she would not change one thing about it.

“I think my childhood made me everything I am today,” she said. “I would trade nothing for being brought up in the Great Smoky Mountains. I’ve never been ashamed of my people, no matter how poor or dirty we might have been. I’ve always loved being from where I am, and having the folks that I’ve had.”

While Parton’s childhood was not easy, another struggle she faced in life was even more difficult for her. In the 2017 book Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton, the country music legend opened up about the ups and downs of her relationship with her husband Carl Dean.

Parton stunned her fans by admitting that she had an “affair of the heart.”

Parton and Dean met at a laundromat when she was 18 years-old, and it was her very first day in Nashville.

“My first thought was I’m gonna marry that girl,” Dean said in a statement marking the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary in 2016. “My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin’. And that was the day my life began. I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.”

The couple were happy for 20 years until Parton had an affair with her band leader Gregg Perry in the 1980s. She was so overcome with guilt that she “found herself eyeing her gun” to end her life.

“I was sitting upstairs in my bedroom one afternoon when I noticed in the nightstand drawer my gun that I keep for burglars. I looked at it a long time,” Parton said. “Then, just as I picked it up, just to hold it and look at it for a moment, our little dog, Popeye, came running up the stairs. The tap-tap-tap of his paws jolted me back to reality. I kinda believe Popeye was a spiritual messenger from God.”

In the end, Parton believes that it was the power of prayer that saved her life.

“I don’t think I’d have done it, killed myself, but I can’t say for sure,” she said. Now that I’ve gone through that terrible moment, I can certainly understand the possibilities, even for someone solid like me, if the pain gets bad enough.”

Parton and Dean were able to work through this rough patch, and they remain married to this day!

“He’s a deep person, but he has a great and warped sense of humor,” Parton said. “He makes me laugh and entertains me. He’s very secure within himself.”

This story just goes to show how powerful prayer really is. We applaud Parton for opening up about how her Christian faith saved her life!

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