In 1978, Dolly Parton did something that surprised even her own fans: she agreed to become the cover star of Playboy, a magazine famous precisely for its nude photographs.

But there was one condition.

Dolly wasn’t going to take her clothes off.

The singer ended up appearing on the cover of the October 1978 issue wearing Playboy’s famous bunny costume, complete with ears, a bow tie and high heels. In doing so, she became the first country singer to grace the magazine’s cover.

However, before agreeing, Parton had serious doubts.

In an interview conducted in March of that same year for the article that would accompany the publication, she explained that she had initially worried they would want her to pose nude.

“I didn’t want to be naked on the cover of a magazine unless everyone knew it was a joke. I wouldn’t want to be naked even then”, she said in that conversation.

Decades later, when recalling that session, she was even more direct.

“I was comfortable doing the cover. I wasn’t going to do any of the layouts, the nudity and all that“, she explained to Business Insider.

For Dolly, there was another concern as well: her fans.

At the time, she had a huge fan base in the country world, many of them with strong religious beliefs. The singer feared that some might interpret a nude photo session in a way she did not want.

Ultimately, she found a formula that allowed her to seize the opportunity without crossing her own boundaries.

The cover worked. In fact, the appearance helped expand her exposure beyond the country world, and she herself later considered that it had been a good decision for her career.

And the story had a second chapter decades later.

In 2021, when she turned 75, Dolly wanted to appear again as a Playboy bunny to celebrate the birthday of her husband, Carl Dean. Since the magazine had stopped being published in print, she organized her own photo session inspired by that 1978 cover.

Thus, one of Dolly Parton’s most memorable images was born precisely from a very clear decision:

yes to Playboy, but always on her own terms.