Watch: Dolly Parton Speaks Out Amid Public Concern Over Her HealthDolly Parton is beggin' you: Please don't take her death hoax seriously. The "Jolene" singer addressed rumors of her declining health circulating across the internet, specifically calling out an AI-generated photo of fellow country music star Reba McEntire at her "deathbed." "Did you see that AI picture of Reba and me?" Dolly said in a video message posted on her social channels Oct. 8. "Oh lordy." While the 79-year-old joked that she and Reba, 70, "both looked like we need to be buried," Dolly emphasized that what the fake image depicted couldn't be further from the truth. "If I was really dying, I don't think Reba would be the one at my death bed," the 11-time Grammy winner explained. "She might come visit me earlier." As for her overall health? Though Dolly did postpone a few of her shows last month, she's now "working hard" after taking a brief break following the March 3 death of her longtime husband Carl Dean.readDolly Parton Speaks Out Amid Public Concern Over Her Health"Everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am, do I look sick to you?" she quipped. "Back when my husband Carl was very sick, that was for a long time and then when he passed, I didn't take care of myself, so I let a lot of things go that I should've been taking care of." Dolly continued, "When I got around to it, the doctor said we need to take of this, we need to take care of that-nothing major but I did have to cancel some things so I could be closer to home." Noting how there were "a lot of rumors flying around" about her condition, the 9 to 5 star added, "I wanted you to know that I'm not dying."Matt Baron/ShutterstockIn fact, Dolly-whose sisters Freida Parton and Stella Parton also recently addressed her health-said she's been filming commercials for the Grand Ole Opry. "Which is why I'm dressed kind of like a country Western girl," she noted in her video. "Anyway, I wanted to put everybody's mind at ease, those of you that seem to be real concerned, which I appreciate-and I appreciate your prayers because I am a person of faith-I can always use the prayers for anything and everything." For more celebrities who were caught up in bogus death hoaxes, read on.
Adela Loconte/Shutterstock Steve BurnsThe Blues Clues star doesn't have a clue how these rumors started. But even while he was still on the Nickelodeon series, there were false stories that he had died. And Steve, who is very much alive, has spoken about the toll this hoax took on his mental health."When a gazillion people you've never met tell you that you're dead, it's bad when you're severely clinically depressed," he shared on a May 2025 episode of Rainn Wilson's Soul Bloom podcast. "And there was nothing I could do about this rumor."After Steve left the show in the early aughts, the rumors continued: "It was one of the most common things people would say to me was, 'I thought you were dead.'"Instagram/Lil TayLil TayDays after a statement on her Instagram reported the rapper and her brother had died, Lil Tay confirmed her account was hacked."I want to make it clear that my brother and I are safe and alive, but I'm completely heartbroken, and struggling to even find the right words to say," she told TMZ. "It's been a very traumatizing 24 hours. All day yesterday, I was bombarded with endless heartbreaking and tearful phone calls from loved ones all while trying to sort out this mess."Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth IIYes, Queen Elizabeth II is actually dead.
But six months before her September 2022 passing, she got entangled in hoax when Hollywood Unlocked prematurely reported she died."I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and everything aligns with me feeling very confident, which is why I doubled down on it," the outlet's CEO Jason Lee told BuzzFeed News in February 2022. "Now if I'm wrong, I'll be the first one to go out there and say, hey, it's the first time I got it wrong and this is a big wrong, on to the next story."Kurt Krieger/Corbis via Getty ImagesEminemWill the source behind these hoaxes please stand up?Over the years, Eminem has been the subject of several false death stories, including one that started in August 2023 after an "R.I.P. Eminem" Facebook page caught attention. "He joins the long list of celebrities who have been victimized by this hoax," his rep said in a statement obtained by The Sun. "He's still alive and well, stop believing what you see on the Internet." Jason LaVeris / Contributor / GETTY IMAGESWayne KnightThe Seinfeld alum took to Twitter in 2014 to assure fans that he is "alive and well" after several fake sites reported he died in a car crash.
Briquet-Domine-Wyters/ABACAChloë Grace MoretzThe Carrie star was none too pleased to learn some mischiefmakers spread false reports about her dying in a snowboarding mishap in 2013."I've had my loved ones calling crying to check and see if I'm alive," Chloë tweeted at the time. "Don't make this up. It's not real. I am fully alive