Dolly Parton Reveals She's Been 'Harassed' and Had to 'Put Up with BS' in Career

Dolly Parton has faced her fair share of adversity during her lengthy career as a country music superstar.

In a new interview with Elle, the "Jolene" singer, 73, opened up about her experiences with harassment and how she overcame them.

"I've been fortunate, more fortunate than most women have. I've certainly been harassed in my life. I've certainly had to put up with a lot of BS. I was always strong enough to walk away from it and not to have to fall under it," the Grammy-winning artist confessed.

"I've been fortunate being from a strong family of men, and women, and not being afraid to stand on my own or to say, 'Go to hell,' if that's where you needed to go," she added.

While keeping her integrity, Dolly carved out a profession -- which includes running an amusement park and production company -- that reflects her own style of feminism.

"If I'm not a good example of a woman in power, I don't know who is. I'm out there just promoting mankind, but I am most definitely going to get behind those gals."

Even when she was just starting out, Dolly learned how to deal with detractors who were "surprised by her seriousness as a businesswoman" because of her vibrant makeup and wardrobe.

"I never felt that I had to cower or to feel like, because I was a girl, I had to do it any different. I just believed in myself. Still do. I never thought of it [as being] about being a woman or a man. I thought of it as being an artist, and a writer, and a person of a strong will."

As for industry folk telling her to ease up on the rhinestones and wigs, Dolly said, "I not only didn't tone it down, I figured if my work was truly good enough, people would eventually recognize that. It was about me knowing who I was, being happy with me, and feeling comfortable in the way I presented myself. If I was happy, I could make other people happy."

And Dolly was a trailblazer in the fight for female equality in the workplace as her 1980 film "9 to 5" with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin portrayed three women exacting revenge on their sleazy male boss.

"I think that brought so much stuff to the forefront that people had not been willing to look at, even though they knew it was happening," Dolly said of the film. "At that time, we really hoped that it would make a bigger difference than it actually did. Although I do feel like it did open a lot of doors and a lot of eyes to a lot of problems that we'd been having since time began."

She understands, however, there is more work to be done.

"We still have a lot of the same problems. I think that we just have to keep working at it. I think the new #MeToo movement and all that stuff has thrown more light onto it. I think women are in a better place now than they've ever been before."

Sing it, sister, sing it.

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