Miley Cyrus has offered a heartfelt farewell to Dolly Parton, the country music icon and her godmother, who passed away yesterday, August 25, at the age of 80. In a message posted across her social media accounts, Cyrus wrote: "The feeling of losing my Aunt Dolly is beyond what feels right to share. What I KNOW is Dolly would want me to feel it, write a song about it, and then continue on and be strong. I have an angel by my side. I always have. One of our last conversations was about music and metamorphosis. 🦋"

Cyrus concluded with: "I will always love her and want to make her proud. My heart breaks for the world, her family and friends who will miss her deeply. We’re in this loss together and we will see her in all of the most beautiful things. 💖"

The bond between the two was forged long before Miley's stardom. Billy Ray Cyrus and Parton toured together in 1992, and Miley, born that November, was promptly promised as Parton's godchild. "He said 'We’re having a girl, and you’ve got to be her godmother,'" Parton recalled on The Howard Stern Show in 2023. "I said 'Well I’d be honored.'"

Parton later made multiple guest appearances on Hannah Montana as "Aunt Dolly," where, in the show's rich lore, she was locked in a decades-long feud with Mamaw Ruthie (Vicki Lawrence) over the affections of one Elvis Presley - presumably the same Elvis who popularized "Hound Dog" but not, as far as we know, "Jolene."

The musical collaboration continued into the 21st century. In 2012, Cyrus covered "Jolene" for her "Backyard Sessions" series. The two appeared on each other's albums: Parton on "Rainbowland" from 2017's Younger Now, and Cyrus reworked her own "Wrecking Ball" for Rockstar, Parton's final studio album, in 2023. Their last live duet was, fittingly, "Jolene," which closed out the December 2022 edition of Miley's New Year's Eve Party - a TV special that, like all good things, was brief.