Dolly Parton Reminisces on Younger Years With ‘Regis and Kelly’

Dolly Parton recently made a stop by the set of 'Live With Regis and Kelly,' where she chatted with the hosts about life early on with her 11 siblings. The singer also talked about her brilliant career move in creating the theme park, Dollywood, located in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Here are the highlights:

Dolly on the success of Dollywood: "You never know when you have a dream if it's going to come true. You hope it does and you pray it does, and you certainly hope it's a success. For the last 25 years it's grown and grown every year, and it's just amazing. It's a wonderful park out in the country. I knew that it would be a great spot for something like that. It's beautiful up there. The Smokey Mountains National Park is the most visited National Park in the United States."

Dolly on the concept of Dollywood: "We have some wonderful things there. One of the things we really tried to do at the park is to preserve as much of the beauty of the Smokey Mountains. We tried to cut down as few trees as possible -- you have to [cut down] some -- but we tried to keep all the Smokey Mountains there. It's not an amusement park. We have wonderful amusement rides, but it's a theme park. We really preserved the park as it was 100 years ago."



Dolly on growing up near Pigeon Forge: "We lived way back up in the mountains, but it's very close [to Pigeon Forge]."

Dolly on her big family: "There were 12 children. I have a sister and two brothers, who are older, and there's eight children younger. My mom just popped them out!"

Dolly on helping raise her brothers and sisters: "That's why I'm a good cook. People always say, 'Oh, you don't cook with those nails!' You wouldn't believe how I cook! My sister and I used to kind of be the second moms because we were the older girls, so you learn from your grandma and your mom. I love cooking, and I still cook all my famous old country cookin'!"

Dolly on the house they grew up in: "In the early days it was really small. You know they always talk about two rooms and a bath? We had two rooms and a path. [laughs] We'd have running water when we'd run to get it." [laughs]