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Miley Cyrus offered an update on godmother Dolly Parton’s recent “health challenges.”
Cyrus, 33, chatted with Entertainment Tonight’s Denny Directo about Avatar: Fire and Ash, a James Cameron-directed film that’s due to premiere in theaters this month. Cyrus co-wrote and performed an original song, “Dream as One,” for the highly-anticipated action-fantasy. During their conversation, Directo, who recently caught up with Parton, asked Cyrus how the beloved country legend is doing amid her health issues.
“She’s always going to keep the show going. The show must go on, so she’s just excited to get back to work,” Cyrus said.
Parton, who celebrates her 80th birthday next month, said she’d “had a little problem,” when she missed a Dollywood event in September. A kidney stone had “given me an infection. …Don’t worry about me. I’m gonna be OK.” Still, many fans expressed concern for Parton after she canceled or postponed more appearances. She pushed her Las Vegas residency back, and pre-recorded acceptance speeches for recent awards. Parton’s sister, Freida Parton, 68, asked others to join her in praying for the country star, though she clarified she didn’t mean “to scare anyone.”
Parton said in a health update of her own that she “didn’t take care of myself” after losing her husband, Carl Dean, earlier this year. She explained that her health challenges were “nothing major, but I did have to cancel some things so I could be closer to home…But I wanted you to know that I’m not dying,” she said. “There’s just a lot of rumors flying around, but I figured if you heard it from me, you’d know that I was OK.”
An unnamed “source close to Parton” recently told PEOPLE that “Dolly is getting better every day. She is at home taking care of herself while many friends and family visit her. …In true Dolly spirit she has already started decorating for the holidays — her favorite time of year.”