Crews scrambled to repair Dolly Parton's Hollywood Walk of Fame star after vandals scratched her name off the brass inlay, just days after the country legend was laid to rest.

A fan alerted the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday that Parton's star had been gouged with deep scratches, the Daily Mail reported. Ana Martinez, the Chamber's spokesperson and producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, confirmed the damage and said a crew from the Hollywood Historic Trust had already begun repairs. The star, she said, should be polished and ready for visitors again by Friday.

Parton died peacefully on August 25 in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 80, following a brief battle with cancer. Her nephew and head of security, Bryan Seaver, announced her passing in an Instagram video. She was laid to rest on August 28, and within days, someone defaced the sidewalk tribute that had honored her for more than four decades.

Flowers stolen, her name scratched away

Fans had turned Parton's star into a makeshift memorial, covering it with flowers and handwritten notes. The New York Post reported that flowers left as tributes were stolen and deep scratches were gouged across Parton's name on the brass inlay. Los Angeles radio station KNX posted video on Instagram showing a repair crew working to replace the damaged landmark.

Martinez told the Daily Mail that the star had already been scheduled for repair before the vandalism was reported. Pre-existing cracks had weakened it, and the Chamber had arranged for the Hollywood Historic Trust to fix those on Tuesday. The vandalism compounded the job.

"From the photo she posted, it does appear the star was vandalized with scratches," Martinez told Fox News, referring to the fan who first flagged the damage.

No suspect has been identified. No arrest has been reported. The motive remains unknown.

Online, fans reacted with grief and anger. "WTF who would do that," one commenter wrote beneath the KNX video. Another posted: "Further proof no matter who you are or what you do, someone will hate you." A third simply said: "This hurts my heart so much."

Parton received her star in 1984, and spent six decades earning it

Parton's star was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984, more than four decades ago. Born on January 19, 1946, in Pittman Center, Tennessee, she was the fourth of twelve children. Her music career spanned six decades and produced one of the most recognizable catalogs in American popular music, anchored by the 1973 classic "Jolene."

The inspiration behind that song was pure Dolly. In an NPR interview, she recalled a red-haired bank teller who developed "this terrible crush on my husband" Carl Dean:

"He just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us, when I was saying: 'H***, you're spending a lot of time at the bank. I don't believe we've got that kind of money.'"

Onstage at Glastonbury, she put it more bluntly: "I put a stop to that. I got rid of that redhead woman in a hurry."

Parton and Dean first met in 1964 at the Wishy Washy Laundromat in Nashville. She was eighteen. He was twenty-one. As she later recounted in a 2023 documentary, she had never been in a laundromat before. Dean pulled over to the side of the road, they started talking, and they married two years later, in May 1966, in Ringgold, Georgia.

Dean was a homebody who wanted no part of the spotlight. After attending a 1967 awards show where Parton won song of the year, he delivered a verdict that stuck for the rest of their marriage: "I wish you the best, but don't ever ask me to go to another one of these d*** things because I ain't going."

He never did. They renewed their vows in 2016 at their Nashville home. Dean died in March 2025 at age 82, two months before what would have been their fifty-ninth wedding anniversary. The cause of death remained private.

Parton's written tribute to her husband was characteristically direct: "Words can't do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy." The Parton family had already endured loss before Dolly's passing; six of her eleven siblings survive her.

Four days before she died, Parton was still making plans

In an interview published by People magazine just four days before her death, Parton said she had "so many things I want to achieve" and vowed to keep "working as long as I can to see everything come to life." She also acknowledged "some health issues that I just didn't pay attention to when I was watching over Carl."

It later emerged that she had been secretly battling cancer. The specific type was not disclosed. She had been pulling out of public appearances due to her health, though the extent of those cancellations has not been detailed publicly.

Seaver, in his Instagram announcement, relayed Parton's final wish, "to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life of wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest." He said she had "lived in the light" and was now "in the arms of Jesus" alongside Carl Dean, her parents, and "countless others who have watched her and longed to meet her in the heavens."

Parton's niece, Lainey Mae Parton, offered her own tribute. "It still doesn't feel real that she's gone," she said. "I'm going to miss her voice, her laugh, her hugs, and just knowing she was there."

A country full of mourners, and one vandal

Parton spent a lifetime building something rare: a public persona that almost no one resented. She was generous with her wealth, plain about her faith, funny about her flaws, and fiercely loyal to her roots in rural Tennessee. She described her marriage with the kind of honesty that made people trust her: "He's quiet and I'm loud, and we're funny... we have a lot of fun. Anytime too much tension going on, either one of us can like, find a joke about it to really break the tension, where we don't let it go so far. We never fought back and forth."

That someone would deface her memorial before the flowers had even wilted says nothing about Dolly Parton and everything about the kind of person who reaches for a sharp object when the rest of the country is reaching for a tissue.

The star will be fixed by Friday. The legacy it marks was built to last a good deal longer than that.