What Dolly Parton Said in Her Last Interview Should Terrify Us

Dolly Parton did so much in her life to help others. In her final days, I think she did one last thing that will help millions of people, if we pay attention to her warning and take action.Just four days before she died, Parton said that she was being treated for health problems that she “didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl.” She was talking about the years she spent caring for her husband through a long illness. The interview moved on to her upcoming projects, and that line went by so quickly that most people missed it. As we reflect on her death, I think it was a clear wake-up call to America.This is caregiving in 2026. More than 60 million Americans are going through it, a 45% increase over the past decade. We are struggling in the shadows at great sacrifice to our own health and well-being, and caregiving rarely gets airtime as few people want to hear about it. Even worse, hardly anyone wants to talk about it.In my mid-30s, I suddenly became a spousal caregiver for my wife through her cancer battle. It took an enormous toll on my own health, and woke me up to the harsh realities that millions of Americans face. I realized that supporting caregivers is one of t...