Dolly Parton’s nieces are sharing intimate memories of the late country music icon, offering fans a rare glimpse into the private, everyday moments they shared with the woman they knew simply as “Aunt Granny.”

Heidi Parton and Danielle Parton, the daughters of Dolly Parton’s younger brothers, Randy and Robert Jr., respectively, appeared on TODAY on Sept. 3 to reflect on their late aunt, recalling both her trademark humor and the down-to-earth guidance she offered them throughout their lives. The two spoke from the family’s hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee, as they recounted the last times they spent together with Parton in person.

Heidi Parton, a country musician in her own right, recalled receiving career advice from her aunt after releasing her most recent album, “Reflections,” in 2025.

“I sat down and had a very sweet, in-depth conversation about how to proceed with my career,” Heidi Parton said. “We talked for about an hour and she was like, ‘Baby, I’m just going to tell you this. You’ve got the talent. If you want it, go get it.’ I’m like, ‘Yes ma’am.’”

Heidi Parton described the conversation as one she now holds especially close, given how rare that kind of one-on-one time with her famous aunt had become in recent years.

“We had a really good conversation,” she continued. “She was just so sweet and so supportive, and it was just really precious because I hadn’t gotten to do that in so long. I really just hold that very close to me now.”

Danielle Parton, 50, who shares a January birthday with her aunt, recalled having lunch together in February to celebrate their birthdays. That lunch came shortly after the death of legendary actor Robert Duvall at age 95, prompting Danielle to ask her aunt whether she had known him personally.

“We were discussing about who passed and I said, ‘Have you met him?’ And she’s like ‘Oh yeah, he’s precious,’” Danielle Parton recalled. The conversation soon turned to a broader reflection on fame itself, as Danielle asked her aunt how she viewed her own extraordinary level of celebrity.

“We were talking about different stars and how interesting it is that she’s got to meet all these other people, and I said, ‘Do you ever think of yourself as famous? How do you see yourself?’” Danielle Parton recounted. “She goes, ‘Oh, no.’ She goes, ‘I’m still the same kid I was growing up poor,’” Danielle added, noting that her aunt genuinely lived by that self-perception.

Beyond deeper conversations about career and identity, the nieces recalled simpler, more ordinary moments they shared with their aunt, including a shared love of casual food.

“She liked regular food. Oh, she was a fast food junkie,” Danielle Parton said. “We were always talking about our food and stuff. We were just regular girls, and we were talking about regular stuff, and just life.”

Danielle Parton, who works as a pilot and owns the moonshine distillery Shine Girl, said her aunt also offered her business guidance rooted in the same straightforward wisdom she gave Heidi about her music career.

“She was good about, ‘Trust your gut. You know what’s right for you and don’t let anybody sway you from it,’” Danielle Parton said.

Danielle Parton was among a small group of family members who attended a private ceremony laying Dolly Parton to rest in Nashville alongside her husband of 59 years, Carl Dean, who died in 2025 at age 82.

“It was very, very private,” Danielle Parton said of the ceremony. “I don’t even know if I was supposed to be there, I just happened to be in town when all this took place.”

According to Danielle Parton, roughly 10 people attended the intimate service. Dolly Parton’s first cousin, Richie Owens, separately confirmed on TODAY the same day that he had also been among those present.

Reflecting on the atmosphere of the ceremony itself, Danielle Parton described a sense of calm that helped her process the loss.

“Not even close to anywhere near all of us. She was beautiful and peaceful and to me, I don’t know if I want to say healing, but she was beautiful and she was at peace, and so that helped me be at peace with it,” Danielle Parton said.

Danielle Parton went on to reflect more broadly on her aunt’s relentless work ethic throughout her decades-long career as a singer, songwriter, philanthropist and businesswoman, suggesting that Dolly Parton’s death may have finally brought her a form of rest she rarely experienced during her life.

“If there’s anybody that deserved a little peace in their life, it’s her because she never had a moment’s peace, ever,” Danielle Parton said.

Danielle Parton also spoke to the extraordinary scale of public affection her aunt inspired throughout her career, describing the sheer volume of people who wanted even a brief moment with her.

“If you ever thought, ‘Well I just want to meet her,’ well, times that by like 10 million and that’s how many people always just wanted to meet her, just wanted to say hi,” Danielle Parton said. “And then she had all of us driving her crazy all the time.”

The TODAY appearance by Heidi and Danielle Parton adds to a series of tributes and personal remembrances shared by members of Dolly Parton’s extended family and close friends in the weeks following her death, offering fans a window into the more private, familial side of a public figure widely regarded as one of the most beloved entertainers in American music history. Both nieces have continued pursuing careers connected to their aunt’s broader legacy, with Heidi Parton building her own path in country music and Danielle Parton running her own business, both fields in which they credited their aunt’s guidance as a lasting influence.

The sisters’ recollections, spanning career advice, shared meals and quiet conversations about fame and identity, painted a portrait of a woman who, despite her global stardom, remained deeply connected to her family and her rural East Tennessee roots throughout her life, a theme that has recurred consistently across tributes shared by those who knew Parton personally in the aftermath of her death.

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McDonald’s franchises nearly all of its restaurants in the United States, which means franchise operators have a significant say in operational changes. In some cases, for example, they can reject deal pricing.

Usually, when McDonald’s rolls out a promotion such as $2.99 Snack Wraps or $4 breakfast meals, only select franchise operators will not adopt the deal. Maybe franchisees operating in airports, rest stops, and other expensive real estate will pass on the deal, but most franchisees generally get on board.

That seemed to be what was happening with the chain’s new $3 Value Menu.

CFO Ian Borden noted during the chain’s first-quarter earnings call that franchisees overwhelmingly supported adding the promotion.

“With unanimous approval through the franchisee field votes, we launched the revamped McValue platform in mid-April. The new under $3 menu features well-known a la carte items available throughout the day,” he said.

“Unanimous” sounded encouraging, but in reality, something else happened that put customers in a challenging position.

McDonald’s franchisees make their own choices

As a retail and restaurant writer who has covered these industries for more than 30 years, I generally expect heavily promoted deals to actually be on the menu when I visit a chain. That has not always been the case for McDonald’s Under $3 Every Day Affordable Price (EDAP) menu.

CEO Christopher Kempczinski explained the menu during the Q2 earnings call.

“That is the EDAP menu. You could call that 10 items for under $3. That was sort of the last piece that we felt like we needed to get done in the U.S., and that was what McValue 2.0 was, as we referred to it. That’s what we introduced in April of this year,” he said.

The $3 menu “has not delivered against our expectation,” the CEO noted.

“Part of that was due to the fact that we’re getting really inconsistent execution. Only about, call it, 60% to 65% of our system is currently executing the recommended pricing architecture with the 10 items for under $3,” he added.

It’s not that those restaurants are selling those items for more than $3, they’re just not selling them at the prices the company suggests.

Related: McDonald’s menu cuts fall favorite for the first time in 10 years

McDonald’s actually pulled other deals

While Kempczinski was careful to not blame franchise operators for the failure of the $3 menu, he did share that the chain had pulled other promotions to clear the way for its adoption.

“We compounded that unintentionally by our system pulling off a lot of digital offers. And digital offers for us is something that is core to kind of our loyalty program. It’s something that’s valued by our most loyal customers. And so that ended up being a bad trade,” he said.

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He blamed much of the company’s weak 0.8% Q2 U.S. same-store sales growth.

“Putting in an EDAP program that didn’t deliver and taking away a lot of digital offers and the Buy One, Add One program that was the point I referenced or Ian referenced in the call, which is 2/3 of our miss in the quarter was related to that bad trade,” he shared.

McDonald’s needs buy-in from franchise operators

The chain’s franchise operators do not have to implement promotions created by corporate (but they usually do, albeit not always with the exact prices suggested by corporate).

“McDonald’s prices vary by location. Ninety-five percent of McDonald’s restaurants are independently owned and operated by franchisees, who have the ability to set their own prices,” the company shared on its website.

That’s something the chain has to manage actively, according to RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino.

“McDonald’s corporate can spend millions on national ad campaigns promoting $5 meal deals, but the franchisee owns the register — and that’s where the strategy falls apart,” he told TheStreet.

Franchisees, however, don’t have to listen, and many have good reasons not to.

“Corporate can set a recommended price, but these operators are independent business owners fighting local wage spikes and rising food costs. When a franchisee looks at a low-margin national promo and realizes it eats into their bottom line, they simply opt out or jack up prices elsewhere on the menu to offset it,” he added.

Consumers, however, don’t always understand why the commercials they see don’t match the reality in their local McDonald’s.

“That creates a massive disconnect for consumers. You see a dollar deal on TV, drive up to the window, and get charged full price because the local owner refused to take the margin hit. McDonald’s biggest pricing battle isn’t with food inflation — it’s with its own franchisees protecting their unit economics,” Miserandino shared.

ALSO READ: After closing 39 locations, 76-year-old Mexican chain has 1 left

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Sep 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the Restaurants section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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