Dolly Parton was “flattered” to find out Dolly the Sheep was named in honour of her famous cleavage.
The country music icon, 78, got a jokey nod from scientists in 1997 after they used mammary glands to create a duplicate sheep, and she has now opened up about how she loved their tribute gag.
She told The Guardian when asked for her feelings on knowing the creature was named in tribute to her: “I was flattered. You know, when the scientists cloned Dolly the sheep, they used the mammary glands.
“That’s what they call them… glands… the boobs.
“They said, ‘Oh, we have this sheep, Dolly…’.
“Everybody always played up to these (pointing to her chest), so that’s why we had Dolly the sheep.”
Dolly the Sheep lived for six years and had six lambs before she developed health issues and died on 14 February, 2003, with her taxidermised body on display at the National Museum of Scotland.
Dolly added: “I was sorry when she died, "though I don’t want be cloned myself.
“I want to get on out of here when I can. We already get a lot of Dolly lookalikes, a lot of Dolly drag queens.
“I can just send them down to the store instead of me.”
Dolly also said in her Guardian chat about why she “can’t retire”: “I always say I’ve dreamed myself into a corner. I’ve got to keep all those dreams alive.
“Every dream spins off into some something else.
“I still do shows – I just don’t go on the full-blown tours where I go overseas for weeks.
“I’m older, my husband’s older, and I want to be with him more. So, no. I couldn’t retire if I wanted to. And I don’t want to."
