It’s been a productive year for Dolly Parton. When she wasn’t advocating for the Black Lives Matter movement or funding vaccine research, she was ruling the internet by creating a viral meme. Still, the country music queen apparently needed to check another box off her list of accomplishments: saving a child from oncoming traffic.
The incident occurred on the set of Parton’s new Netflix movie, “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square.” Her 9-year-old costar, Talia Hill, says she was rescued by the singer when she found herself in the path of a moving vehicle.
“We were on set, and I was at the hot chocolate station, and they said ‘Go back to your beginning positions,'” Talia Hill said in an interview with Inside Edition. “So, there is a vehicle moving, and I was walking, and somebody grabbed me and pulled me back… and it was Dolly Parton.”
To help calm Hill after the incident, she says Parton made light of the situation, referencing her role in the film. She says Parton told her, “Well, I am an angel, you know.”
“I was in shock, she hugged me and shook me and said, ‘I saved your life!'” Hill said. “And my mom’s going, ‘Yes, you did, Dolly Parton. Yes, you did!'”
The film, which premiered on Netflix last month, tells the story of a small town and its fight to avoid being evicted by its Scrooge-esque antagonist before Christmas. As mentioned, Parton plays an angel in the film, and also lends her voice to a number of Christmas songs on the soundtrack.
Parton, the most award-winning female country singer of all time, can add this victory to her long list of successes. A real-life angel of sorts, she has also raised money to help wildfire victims, and has read virtual bedtime stories to children during the pandemic. If that’s not enough, her Imagination Library has sent out more than 85 million books to preschool-aged kids.
As critic Gene Seymour recently declared in a CNN piece: “Just let Dolly Parton rule the world already.”
What do you think? Is it time to hand over the crown to the queen? Given her philanthropy and recent act of heroism, we personally are bowing down to the legendary country crooner!