In 2023, we learned that the Prince and Princess of Wales had invited Dolly Parton over to Kensington Palace for a cup of tea, and Dolly turned down the offer. Dolly’s excuse at the time was that she was too busy promoting an album. Well, last month, Dolly sat down for a HuffPo interview, and she was asked a ton of questions about the Windsors for some reason. She was asked if she would ever consider appearing on With Love, Meghan, and Dolly said “Well, never say never. You never know where you’re gonna go.” She also confirmed that she’ll probably meet Queen Camilla in October, when she plans to be in the UK, in what would probably be some kind of promotion for Dolly’s Imagination Library. She was asked about turning down William and Kate’s invitation too, and she said that if the offer still stands, she’d love to pop around, and the Wales kids would always be welcome at Dollywood. I bring all of this is up because, clearly, Dolly is not taking sides and she’s simply a peaceful person who should not be used as a cudgel against either side. Unfortunately, a Daily Mail got a hot tip that Dolly is furious because… the Duchess of Sussex invited her on With Love, Meghan.
This week caps a particularly inglorious run for our duchess, who has been furiously recasting her losses as wins, her fresh humiliations as triumphs, and her supply chain shortages as strategic business moves. Among the many golden nuggets of irresistible info: As royal reporter Kinsey Schofield exclusively revealed on my podcast, The Nerve with Maureen Callahan, Meghan allegedly approached none other than Dolly Parton to appear on her Netflix show, ‘With Love, Meghan’ — and was summarily dismissed.
Dolly, that absolute legend, joins Taylor Swift and Beyoncé in reportedly turning down Meghan’s entreaties to join her in any given enterprise.
As Kinsey told me, Dolly’s team were ‘livid… they don’t want to risk Dolly’s epic popularity by associating with Meghan Markle.’
When the best you can get is Chrissy Teigen —who will be joining season two of ‘With Love’ and is known, among other things, for bullying a young starlet to the point she considered suicide — well, your brand is in the gutter.
Meanwhile, the final episode of Meghan’s new podcast dropped Tuesday, to zero buzz or fanfare.
Lemonada, the company producing said podcast, has yet to announce a renewal — and normally, they’re announced well ahead of a season ending. Also: Most podcasts, for what it’s worth, don’t have ‘seasons’. They just keep going. Apparently, Meghan’s buzz-less ‘Confessions of a Female Founder’ — which follows ‘Archetypes’, Meghan’s last flop in this lane — needed an entire year to produce just eight episodes. By all metrics, that’s terrible output.
Re: COAFF… I love this podcast more than Archetypes and I hope there’s another season. I think the delay in “greenlighting” a second season is more about Meghan’s schedule right now more than any reluctance from Lemonada. Lemonada seems like a great partner for Meghan, and they seem pleased with COAFF. Plus, Meghan has already said that other female founders have contacted her, wanting to be on the pod. I’d be willing to bet that a second season is coming, but it will probably happen next year (or much later this year).
As for Dolly… what I don’t understand is how a story about “Meghan approached a celebrity to see if they would appear on the pod or show” gets twisted into “this celebrity is violently furious that Meghan would even DARE TO ASK!” Do these people not understand “booking guests for a show” at all? Celebrities get invitations to appear on all kinds of shows – the celebs rarely get mad at the bookers for daring to invite them. I don’t believe Meghan approached Dolly to appear on WLM, although Dolly would be an excellent guest on COAFF. It’s also worth noting that Kinsey Schofield is a Deranger who styled herself into a “royal reporter” as some kind of grift. She has no exclusive information.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red, Netflix.
