Dolly Parton opens up on her constant battle with weight

Country legend Dolly Parton has opened up about her weight struggles, insisting sticking to a low-carbohydrate diet is increasingly difficult.

The Jolene hitmaker’s new Netflix film Dumplin’ centres on an overweight teenager, who is inspired by Dolly, and Parton, who penned the music for the project, explains she can relate to the character because weight has always been an issue for her.

“I’m a hog at heart,” she tells People magazine. “I’ve been up and down with my weight through the years, so I can definitely relate to that.”

“(This movie) shows that you don’t have to be physically beautiful,” she adds. “You don’t have to look like a supermodel. I really worry a lot about young girls today, because they think they have to look like the models or the people on television. We need to be accepting of ourselves in how we are.”

The 72 year old insists she tries to stick to her “low carb diet,” but she loves to indulge with her favourite Southern meals.

“I’ll make gravy and biscuits and fried sausage or fried spam,” she says. “My husband loves my cooking, so I cook for him. I really cook just old Southern food.”

Dolly also likes to cook recipes from her childhood, handed down from her late mother.

“If I think of Mama, then I usually cook what she used to cook that we loved so good,” she continues. “Mama used to make, it’s like chocolate pudding, really, but you put it in the skillet with flour and sugar and milk and you just make a pudding. Mama used to put it with biscuits. Mama’s gone now, but she’s not gone in our memory and in our cooking.”musicnews