Dolly Parton

Taylor Swift's Powerful Statement Honoring Dolly Parton: 'True Grace And True Grit, All In One Dazzling Person'

From one icon to another…

Taylor Swift, who got her start in country music, has released a statement remembering the late Dolly Parton and the impact she made on the Grammy winning singer and the world.

Related: Beyoncé Pays Her Respects To Dolly Parton

It reads:

A world without Dolly doesn’t feel possible, real, or right. But because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one.

She was truly the gift that kept on giving. Dolly gave us someone to look up to while encouraging us to be who we are as individuals. Somehow she was able to give us her lessons about the world gently and honestly, simultaneously, and oftentimes hilariously. She managed to give the world the ultimate mystery and fantasy in some corners of her life, but to give full transparency in the ways that counted. Somehow she was true grace and true grit, all in one dazzling person. She possessed the softest heart when it came to the struggles of others, and a backbone of steel to defend her own self worth as an artist.

Along with her other fans, I am so grateful for all of it. For the melodies and lyrics she wrote that thawed even the coldest hearts. For the millions of books she provided children all over the world so that they might fall in love with stories the way she did. For the tightropes she walked so that young girls like me could grow up dreaming of joining the circus too.

Dolly, I’ll think of you each step of the way.

~ Taylor Swift

Dolly passed away this week after battling cancer and other health issues. She was 80.

May she rest forever in peace and rainbows.

[Image via MEGA/WENN]