We can’t be sure how or when the rumors started that Dolly Parton’s arms and boobs are secretly covered in tattoos, but here we are now, and the godmother of Hannah Montana is done with our Jolene-y gossip. In a new interview with People, Parton admitted that she indeed has several “tasteful†tattoos on her body, but insisted that she’s “not a tattoo girl†and the ink isn’t excessive. “My tattoos are pretty, they’re artful, and they usually started out to cover some scar, not to make a big statement,†she explained. “Ribbons and bows and butterflies are the things that I have. I was very sick for a while and I had to wear a feeding tube. It left a little indention in my side and I didn’t like it because I’m so fair that scars turn purple on me.†A few photographs from red-carpet events in recent years have revealed colorful flowers around Parton’s décolletage.
“I like to make positives out of negatives,†Parton said. “I had a little beehive tattooed over it — a little yellow-and-brown beehive with a tiny little bee on top of the hive. The mouth of it is that little sinkhole.†Parton added, quite adorably, that she doesn’t have a tattoo dedicated to her husband Carl Dean because “he’s tattooed on my heart.†(The duo have been married for an astounding 54 years.) “Who knows, I may get some more later,†she said. “I may just have to get covered with tattoos just so everybody could be right!â€