Dolly Parton Turned Down the Presidential Medal of Freedom Two Separate Times

Dolly Parton revealed that she has been offered the Presidential Medal of Freedom two separate times, and she turned it down both times.

“I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the COVID,” she explained on the Today show. She added she has also now heard from Joe Biden‘s administration. “Now I feel like if I take it, I’ll be doing politics, so I’m not sure.”

“But I don’t work for those awards,” she continued. “It’d be nice but I’m not sure that I even deserve it. But it’s a nice compliment for people to think that I might deserve it.”

“I think everyone thinks you might deserve it,” Today show host Hoda Kotb added.

If you don’t know, the medal is given by the President to an individual who has made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

Former President Barack Obama even once wanted to give Dolly the award and you have to see what he once said about it.

Find out the huge donation Dolly made that has really been helping during the COVID-19 pandemic.