Mickey Guyton "screamed" when she met Dolly Parton.
Mickey Guyton on meeting Dolly Parton
The 39-year-old musician idolised the country legend, 76, when she was a child but joked she was shocked at the size of her waist when she finally got to meet the 'Jolene' hitmaker backstage at a TV show.
She said: "My grandma was a huge Dolly Parton fan. She lived in the country, so she didn't have cable, and all she had were movies, VHS tapes. When I would go into her room to watch movies, I would look on the back of her door and there was Dolly Parton; and there was Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers duet VHS tapes. So that's how I fell in love with Dolly Parton, was [by] watching those tapes.
"When I met her, I mean, I screamed, I cried — it's a whole thing. And she's so little! Her waist is, like, that small. I'm not kidding. She made me feel really good about myself — but my waist!"
The 'Black Like Me' hitmaker went on to add that Dolly was "happy" to have served as an inspiration to her fellow country singer.
She told PEOPLE: "Dolly told me 'I'm just happy that I've been an inspiration of some sort to you. That means so much to me, really. Seeing how [you feel], I know why I do it.' "
"I think everyone, no matter where you're from, just wants to feel like they have a safe space, and I want to create that safe space [like Dolly] for artists when they're coming up. No matter who they are, but especially for artists of color. I want them to feel like they have a safe space in any genre that they pursue. And that's something that has given me a lot of purpose, is being that for people."
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