Dolly Parton believes she gained new fans thanks to the TV show Hannah Montana.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the country music icon credited her goddaughter Miley Cyrus' Disney Channel TV series for giving her a new generation of fans.
"She did so great on Hannah Montana and I got famous," the 77-year-old said of the Flowers hitmaker. "She really made me a lot of new fans that follow me to this day because of her, when she put me on the Hannah Montana show, all those little kids now have grown up and they've followed Aunt Dolly all these years."
Dolly then addressed the "controversy" that surrounded Miley around the time she left Disney and began releasing music such as 2013's Wrecking Ball.
"I understood completely when Miley was going through all the controversy, trying to overcome, she had to kill Hannah Montana in order to live as Miley," the Jolene singer stated. "I know that's a drastic way of saying it, but I mean, as far as in the minds of people, she had to go to that extreme. She just felt she had to get rid of that so people could (see her)."
Dolly added, "Now she's proud of Hannah Montana looking back on it and what she's done. I will always love her."
The 9 to 5 singer appeared as Aunt Dolly, Miley's on-screen godmother, in three episodes of Hannah Montana, which ran from 2006 to 2011.