Dolly Parton said she once lost look-alike contest to drag queen

After the August 2026 death of legendary country singer, businesswoman and philanthropist Dolly Parton, people began sharing various stories about her life on social media. Among them were posts claiming she once lost a Dolly Parton look-alike contest to a drag queen.

Snopes readers searched our website to verify the claim. 

Parton herself had shared the story many times throughout her life. Although there was no evidence suggesting she made it up, we couldn’t verify the tale with a second source. As such, we were unable to rate the claim.

According to the CBC, Parton mentioned that she had lost a Dolly look-alike contest in her 2012 memoir, “Dream More.” Snopes confirmed that the detail was present in the book.

In interviews with Ellen DeGeneres, Robin Roberts and ABC’s Nightline, she recalled that the contest was held at a gay bar on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles and said she decided to enter on a whim because she lived up the street. 

Those details checked out. According to SF Gate, Parton had either rented or owned property in the West Hollywood area since the 1980s. West Hollywood has long been home to a vibrant LGBTQ+ community and, as of this writing, Google Maps showed several gay bars in the area on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Parton decided that she would over-exaggerate her most famous features for the contest. But she didn’t tell anyone who she was. 

“All these beautiful drag queens had worked for weeks and months getting their clothes. So I just got in the line and I just walked across, and they just thought I was some little short gay guy,” she told Nightline. “I got the least applause.”

While that version of the story suggests Parton lost to a drag queen, the detail is sometimes omitted, meaning it can’t be categorically proven either way. 

For further reading, we compiled 20 stories about Dolly Parton from our archives.

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