Country music legend Dolly Parton, known for her self-deprecating humor, often stated that her famous phrase, "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap," was a sentiment that might one day grace her tombstone.
Parton, who passed away at 80, first uttered the line while starring in the 1982 film "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." The quote evolved into a personal motto for the singer, and in a 2008 interview with Vanity Fair, she reiterated that this phrase, along with "several requisite cracks about her ample bust size," would likely appear on her epitaph.
Parton explained that her distinctive style, which she described as a "country girl’s idea of glamor," stemmed from her upbringing in rural Sevier County, Tennessee. In a 2006 interview with "The Early Show," she recalled patterning herself after a woman in her hometown whom she perceived as glamorous.
"I kind of patterned myself after what they called the town tramp in my hometown, when I was little," Parton told host Julie Chen. "There was this woman that was very much a loose woman, but I didn’t know what that meant and I just told her how beautiful she was, ’cause she had this beautiful yellow hair."
She continued, recalling that others described the woman negatively, "And I thought, ‘That’s what I want to be when I grow up. I’m gonna be trash!’ And that is how I look."
Despite any criticism, Parton maintained a consistent embrace of her "trashy" persona. In an April 2022 appearance on the WorkLife Podcast with Adam Grant, she reflected on this choice, stating, "Everybody said, ‘She’s trash.’ And in my little girl mind, I thought, ‘Well, that’s what I’m going to be when I grow up.’ It was really like a look I was after. I wasn’t a natural beauty. So, I just like to look the way I look. I’m so outgoing inside in my personality, that I need the way I look to match all of that."
Another memorable quote attributed to Parton is, "It’s hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world."