Country music legend Dolly Parton has posted a video message seeking to reassure fans after ongoing health issues forced her to cancel a planned residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The latest update comes after the 10-time Grammy Award winner missed a party at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry in January celebrating her 80^th birthday.

She had previously postponed her six-date Caesars Palace residency, which was originally slated for December 2025, due to “health challenges”. It was rescheduled for September this year, but has now been cancelled.

In an Instagram video posted on Tuesday (AEST), Parton said she had “some good news and a little bad news”.

“The good news is, I’m responding really well to meds and treatments, and I’m improving every day,” she said.

“Now, the bad news is, it’s gonna take me a little while before I’m up to stage-performance level, because some of the meds and treatments make be a little bit swimmy-headed, as my grandma used to say.

“Of course I can’t be dizzy carrying around banjos, guitars and such on five-inch heels – and you know that I’m going to be wearing them. Not to mention all those heavy rhinestone outfits, the big hair, my big, ah, personality,” she added, laughing.

Dolly Parton says it will be a while before she is back up to ‘stage-performance level’.

Parton, who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 and is known for hits such as Jolene and 9 to 5, went on to explain that she has had ongoing problems with kidney stones.

“Lord, they dig more stones out of me a year than the rock quarry in Rockwood, Tennessee,” she said.

“But seriously, my immune system and my digestive system got all out of whack over the past couple or three years and they’re working real hard on rebuilding and strengthening those. And hopefully I’ll be up to snuff again soon.”

She added that her doctors had assured her that “everything I have is treatable, so I’m going with that”.

The six shows planned for The Colosseum at Caesars Palace – titled Dolly: Live in Las Vegas – would have been Parton’s first Las Vegas residency in more than 32 years. According to the BBC, she last performed on the strip in the 1990s with fellow country singer and Islands in the Stream duet partner Kenny Rogers.

In the new video message, Parton thanked her fans for their love and support.

“I am truly sorry that I’m going to miss all of you that had tickets to see me in Las Vegas, she said. “Well, you get on to Vegas, and you have a big time … and I’ll see you somewhere down the line.”

Looking every inch her usual polished self in a pink-rhinestone-covered jacket worn over a bright pink top, Parton seemed determinedly upbeat – perhaps in an effort to forestall concerns that arose last year when she postponed the Caesars Palace shows and her younger sister wrote on Facebook that she had been praying for her. At that time, Dolly spoke out to assure people she was “not ready to die yet”.

Parton has recorded more than 50 studio albums over a six-decade career and in 2025 was named a Guinness World Records icon for holding 11 record-breaking titles – including being he first country singer to be nominated for the EGOT (an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony).

She joked this week that fans should think of her like an old classic car “that once restored can be better than ever”.

The celebrated singer insisted that she was still working – including making videos, recording, occasionally visiting her Dollywood theme park in Tennessee, and getting a new museum and hotel ready to open in Nashville later this year.

“I am spending a lot of time writing and reworking on my Broadway musical – it’s called DOLLY: A True Original Musical – and that’s going to be opening later in New York this fall or early winter.”

Parton added that a lot of people had expressed concern with how she was coping after the loss of her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, who died in March last year. She admitted it had been difficult coping with “a year of firsts”, especially the couple’s wedding anniversary and the anniversary of his death.

“I will always love him and I’ll always miss him, but you’d be surprised by how much your love and concern meant for me at that time … so yes, from the bottom of my heart I thank you. You have been a big part of me healing.”

Within eight hours of being posted, Parton’s video had been viewed more than 2.2 million times and amassed hundreds of comments from well-wishers.

“Thank you for sharing information with us that you didn’t have to,” wrote one. “We love you so much and I for one am not ready for you to leave us so please get that engine fully rebuilt. Feel better, queen Dolly.”

Actor and songwriter Mary Steenburgen was among others who posted comments, writing: “In this world where heroes can sometimes seem in short supply, you are one of the best. I adore you and am sending you love.”