Dolly Parton’s Covid-19 vaccine plea during The Project interview

Country legend Dolly Parton has made a heartfelt plea to people surrounding the Covid-19 vaccine in an interview with Lisa Wilkinson.

Dolly Parton has made an emotional plea for the world not to “hesitate” and get the Covid-19 vaccine.

Speaking to Lisa Wilkinson on Sunday’s The Project, the country legend spoke about why she offered up her song Jolene to help raise awareness around Covid-19 vaccinations — along with a $1 million donation to the research team behind the Moderna vaccine.

“I saw at the start that this [Covid-19] was going to be a bad thing, I didn’t know how bad it was going to be but I felt lead to do something and help support whatever cure they could find,” she said.

“That’s when we were all just panicking. I felt really lead to do it and I’m really glad that I was just a small part of that. I was happy when I could get my own Moderna shots.”

During the interview, Parton also offed a rare public statement about her little-seen husband of 55 years Carl Dean.

The 75-year-old discussed her recent headline-making gift for her husband’s 79th birthday in July: recreating her racy 1978 Playboy magazine cover shoot.

The heartwarming video showed Dolly in full Playboy bunny get-up, promising her husband a “hot girl summer” – and gave fans a rare glimpse of Carl (even if it was just the back of his head).

Dolly Parton presents her husband a birthday gift.

Dolly: “I’ll do anything I can to make him feel better.”

Now, Parton reveals the gift was not just for Carl’s birthday, but also to keep him happy during a long period of ill health.

“My husband has not been feeling well for quite a while, and I’ll do anything that I can to make him feel better and lift his spirits and everything. He’s always thought I was beautiful,” she says.

“A lot of people got a kick out of that, so … and he did for sure!”

One of just a handful of photos of Parton and her husband that have been made public.

Parton and Dean have rarely appeared in public together throughout their marriage, leading to speculation about their “unconventional” relationship – but as Parton has explained in the past, the man she married back in 1966 is simply a homebody.

Elsewhere in tonight’s interview, Parton shares stories about how her iconic hits like Jolene and I Will Always Love You and explains why she donated a million dollars to help fund the Moderna vaccine.

She also drops the news Australian theatregoers have been waiting for – her West End smash musical 9 to 5 is set to launch at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre in February 2022, having previously been postponed due to the ongoing Covid lockdowns.

9 to 5 the Musical is finally coming to Australia. Picture: Pamela Raith.

“Well I’m very excited that we’re actually going to premiere in Sydney in 2022. We had to take off cause of Covid and we missed a little while but now we’re back and we’re very excited to come back to Australia,” says Parton.

The musical – based on the 1980 film of the same name starring Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda as a trio of working women standing up for themselves against a sexist male boss – was a massive hit on the West End, extending its initial 16-week season to well over a year before Covid hit. You can join the waitlist for tickets now at the musical’s website.

See Lisa Wilkinson’s full interview with Dolly Parton on The Sunday Project, 6:30pm tonight on 10.

Originally published as Dolly Parton’s Covid-19 vaccine plea during The Project interview