Dolly Parton Sent Burt Reynolds To The Hospital For Double Hernia Surgery After Filming An Iconic ’80s Movie Together

The most unique workers compensation case I’ve ever heard of…

Of course, Dolly Parton starred in The Best Little W****house in Texas in 1982 alongside movie star Burt Reynolds, and the film was co-written, produced and directed by Colin Higgins and was his final film as director.

The movie was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Dolly was nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

Dolly and Burt became good friends off the set during the process of filming, and were often accused of having an affair, though Dolly has always denied those rumors. She has talked openly about their friendship, though, as they were both at low points in their lives when they met and in her book Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business, Dolly addressed it, joking that they were “too much alike” to have ever been romantically involved:

“There were the inevitable rumors that Burt and I were romantically involved, and one day, in an interview, somebody asked me if it was true. ‘Shoot, no!’ I said, ‘Burt and I are too much alike to be involved. We both wear wigs and high heels, and we both have a roll around the middle.'”

But when she publicly denied the rumors back when the movie was first coming out, Burt was not too happy because he told her it would “destroy” the magic of the movie and people’s imaginations that they might’ve been more than friends in real life, too.

Dolly said he was actually upset with her about it for a little while:

“Well, Burt got wind of this quote and proceeded to give me a few of his own. ‘You’re destroying the magic,’ he said to me. ‘How are people going to think of us as an item for the sake of this movie if we go around bad-mouthing each other?’ Well, I hadn’t thought of it as bad-mouthing, and I told him so. I was just trying to make a joke.”

In the book Dolly on Dolly, she called her relationship with him “sweeter than a love affair,” and eventually, he got over her joking that they were never in a romantic relationship, and used a similar joke a talk show:

“I know that Burt is a good sport, and looking back on it, I’m sure he was just a little extra sensitive at the time. He must have gotten over it because a year or so later on a talk show I heard him use the same joke.”

But it was the story she told about the medical issue she caused him that blew my mind… I’ve somehow never heard this before, and in one of those last scenes they filmed for the movie, Dolly said Burt had a hard time picking her up. She called herself a “real porker” at the time (though I beg to differ… she looks absolutely perfect in this movie), and she recalled Burt “groaning” when he had to pick her up.

In Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business, she explained:

“There was a scene at the end of the movie where Burt, as Sheriff Ed Earl, had to pick me up and carry me. They waited to shoot that scene last, and it was a good thing they did. The cameras rolled, Burt picked me up, and I could hear him groan.

I was a real porker at the time, probably the heaviest I have ever been. Naturally, being the movies, they had to shoot the scene a few times, and each time Burt groaned a little louder.”

Here’s the scene:

@cultclassicalist True story: Burt Reynolds got a hernia from lifting Dolly Parton in this scene from The Best Little Wh$&e House in Texas. #cultclassic #dollyparton #movietrivia #foryoupage ♬ original sound – CultClassicalist

The week after they wrapped filming, Dolly found out that he had actually had a double hernia operation due to lifting her like that… I mean, yikes. That had to have been a bit of a blow to the ego, even though, like I said, she looked stunning and she was in her prime then. Maybe Reynolds needed to hit the gym a little harder… and she also explained in the book he was having some issues before then too.

But she came up with the perfect joke to explain it all, considering the bad timing, obviously, saying she would tell people she never broke his heart, but the “damage was a little further south:”

“The week after the shooting ended, Burt was checked into a hospital to undergo a double hernia operation. I am told he had been having problems prior to that, but I still couldn’t help feeling a little responsible.

So if anybody ever asks me if I broke Burt Reynolds’s heart, I have to say honestly that the damage was a little further south. Forgive me, Burt. I hope they’re still working.”

Just classic.

That’s still so funny over 40 years later, and only Dolly could make a joke that good out of something that most women would find incredibly embarrassing, even if it wasn’t totally her fault.

But seriously, what a wild story… I’m surprised she sent him to the hospital for a hernia rather than high blood pressure, so to speak, because Dolly playing Mona Stangley is beyond most men’s wildest dreams. I’m thinking the only thing she really hurt throughout this filming process was Burt Reynolds’ ego…

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