Days after the death of country music icon Dolly Parton at age 80, Taylor Swift has paid tribute by flying the American flag at her Rhode Island mansion at half-mast.
The tribute was documented by content creator Kayla Mandeville, who shared an image of the lowered flag on Instagram with the caption, "Flag lowered outside of Taylor Swift's mansion in honor of Dolly Parton."
Swift, who purchased the coastal property for $17.75 million in 2013, also released a statement honoring Parton. "A world without Dolly doesn’t feel possible, real, or right," Swift stated. "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."
Swift, who began her career in country music before achieving global pop stardom, recalled Parton's influence. "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," Swift said. "Somehow she was able to give us her lessons about the world gently and honestly, simultaneously, and oftentimes hilariously."
She added that Parton "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." Swift concluded her statement by expressing gratitude for Parton's contributions, including her melodies, lyrics, and charitable work, particularly the Imagination Library, a book gifting program. "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," Swift wrote. "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."
Parton's representatives confirmed her death on Tuesday, stating she passed away after a "brief battle with cancer" at a medical center in Nashville. Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, had initially confirmed the singer's passing in an Instagram video.
In July, Swift and her husband, Travis Kelce, donated $2 million to Parton's Imagination Library program. Parton expressed her gratitude in a video message, calling herself "overjoyed" by their generosity and noting their commitment to giving back. She also humorously asked the couple if she could have their firstborn child, given their philanthropic spirit.
President Donald Trump had previously ordered all flags in the U.S. to be lowered to half-mast in honor of Parton.