Dolly Parton has confessed why she sleeps with makeup every night since the 1980s.
The singer, 77, has written about her style and signature looks in her new book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, which went on sale on October 17. In an excerpt from the book obtained by Insiderwrites that she has been sleeping with makeup on since the 1980s to be prepared to leave the house in case of emergency.
“When I arrived in Los Angeles in the 80s, I started sleeping with makeup on, partly because of the earthquakes,” she wrote. “I thought, ‘I wouldn’t go out without makeup in case there were cameras out there!’ I need to be ready to go.’”
Parton also acknowledged that even though she sleeps in makeup, she makes sure to clean her face thoroughly in the morning. However, once she has finished washing her face, she puts on her makeup again before starting the day.
“It doesn’t matter when you cleanse your face, as long as you do it once a day,” she wrote. “After I wake up, I do all the little beauty rituals, and then I start doing my makeup again and I go out and look divine all day.”
The ‘9 to 5’ singer noted that she follows her makeup routine both when she’s in Los Angeles for work and when she’s at home with her husband of 50 years, Carl Dean. “I do the same thing at home in Tennessee. “I don’t want to go to bed with Carl with a witch face,” she added.
This is not the first time Parton has revealed that she sleeps with her face made up. During an interview with the magazine WSJ In 2021, she reiterated her habit of sleeping with makeup in case she has to leave the house in the event of a natural disaster.
“I do my entire beauty ritual and clean my face in the morning because I generally try to sleep with my face made up,” she explained. “Because you never know if there is going to be an earthquake, a tornado or a storm and who knows if you would have to go out at dawn.”
In statements to People Earlier this month, the ‘Jolene’ singer poked fun at her love of cosmetic products, joking that fans would only see her without makeup if she were dead.
“You would only see me without makeup if I was lying on a stretcher,” she joked, before offering a candid answer about the only time she could be seen without makeup. “No, seriously, if my husband was sick or if there was an emergency, of course he would leave the house without makeup.”
Parton also shared a few other hypothetical scenarios in which she couldn’t avoid having her face seen without makeup.
“If I got pulled over for a patent issue or whatever, I would hate to have my mugshot taken looking like some of the stars I’ve seen,” he added. “I dress up a little if I go out, unless there is an absolute emergency, and mind you, it would have to be quite serious. In that case I would go out without putting on makeup, but it would be the only instance.”
In Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, Parton told how she became passionate about makeup when she was a child. She remembered that she did not have money to buy different products. However, according to Parton, she used objects from her home as different forms of makeup, such as wild plants and matches.
“Pokeberries were great because you could mash them and make a stain that took forever to remove, really. I painted my lips with it,” she wrote. “She also used household items to make homemade cosmetics. I would light one of my mother’s wooden kitchen matches, put a little saliva on the end and use it to paint my eyebrows and mole.”
Translation of Anna McDonnell
