Dolly Parton’s response to a reporter asking if she 'felt like a joke' in 1977 shows she’s always been iconic

There’s a reason Dolly Parton has stayed untouchable for decades — she’s always known exactly who she is. And nowhere is that clearer than in a 1977 interview with ABC host Barbara Walters that’s now resurfacing nearly fifty years later. In the clip shared by ABC News, a young Parton sat across from Walters, dressed in her signature blonde wig and bright suit, answering questions that today sound more judgmental than curious. Walters pressed her on her looks, her clothes, and even whether she ever felt like people laughed at her. "You don’t have to look like this," Walters said. "You’re very beautiful. You don’t have to wear the blonde wigs. You don’t have to wear the extreme clothes, right?"

Parton, without flinching, listened to Walters, smiled, and responded, "It’s certainly a choice. I don’t like to be like everybody else. I’ve often made the statement that I would never stoop so low as to be fashionable. That’s the easiest thing in the world to do." She explained that her look was never about trying to impress anyone but rather a decision to stand out on her own terms. "Once they got past the shock of the ridiculous way I looked, then they would see there are parts of me to be appreciated. I’m very real where it counts, and that’s inside," she said. Then Walters asked, "Do you ever feel like you’re a joke, that people make fun of you?"

As insulting as the question was, Parton responded to it with a calm demeanor and her well-known wit. "I know they make fun of me," Parton said. "But actually, all these years, people have thought the joke was on me, but it’s actually been on the public. I know exactly what I’m doing, and I can change it at any time. I make more jokes about myself than anybody." She continued, "I am sure of myself as a person. I am sure of my talent. I’m sure of my love for life, and I’m very content. I like the kind of person that I am. So I can afford to piddle around and do-diddle around with makeup and clothes and stuff, because I am secure with myself."

That moment, captured nearly 50 years ago, still feels as relevant as ever. No matter what women do, they are still judged by how they look. Even when they meet every beauty standard, there’s always another expectation waiting, reminding them it's just not enough. A 2024 study published in the Journal of Eating Disorders found that appearance-related bullying is still one of the most common forms of harassment faced by women and girls. Researchers surveyed 336 adolescent females and found that 62% had been targeted specifically because of their looks — most often for body shape, size, or facial features. Almost all of them reported wanting to change their appearance afterward, and more than 80% said they’d considered cosmetic procedures because of it.

That's why Parton's response felt so powerful and proves why she is a national treasure. The clip recently went viral on Reddit, where users praised how composed and self-assured she was. u/Loggerdon wrote, "Barbara simply cannot understand a truly original person. It seems to bother her." u/Nenoshka commented, "Barbara’s questions seem a tad condescending after almost a half century, and Dolly handled them way more politely than I might have." u/Ok_Prize_8091 chimed in, "Dolly Parton really is a genius! She took that verbal venom from Barbara Walters and spun it into pure silk."

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