ABC/Lou RoccoDolly Parton recently sat down with Entertainment Weekly to discuss her work on the soundtrack to the upcoming Netflix movie, Dumplin’, but she didn’t miss the opportunity to talk about how she relates to the film’s story.
Dumplin’ follows an overweight teen’s decision to enter a beauty pageant, and Dolly confesses that there have been times in her career where she viewed herself as a dumplin’. “I have been heavy myself,” she tells EW. “I’ve been a little dumplin’ in my own life, probably at one time I weighed like 50 pounds more than I do right now, a lot of people don’t remember that — so I know what it feels like. Inside of me there’s a dumplin’ still tryin to get out, I just have to kinda watch what I do.
“So I relate,” Dolly says, “but it’s not just about the weight that kids relate to me, because I’ve also always been criticized and bullied because of bein’ different and bein’ myself and standin’ up for whatever.”
And no surprise: Dolly can also make pretty good dumplings. “I’m the best!” Dolly declares, saying she makes her dumplings just like her late mother did.
“I don’t put lard in my dumplings, but I’ve got the chicken fat in it. So yes, I make the best dumplings ever, ever, ever,” she asserts. “I even make little containers of it and give to my brothers and sisters for Christmas. I usually cook a big big pot, and then I’ll always have some for them to take home and freeze and thaw out and eat when they get to missin’ me.”
Dolly wrote six original songs for Dumplin’ with help from fellow hitmaking songwriter Linda Perry. The movie, starring Jennifer Aniston and Danielle MacDonald, debuts on Netflix December 7.
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