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Dolly Parton at the Grammys: Maybe she doesn’t have a full arm of tattoos?

Dolly Parton, left, and Miley Cyrus at the 61st Grammy Awards.
(Kevin Winter / Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
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Dolly Parton’s mythical tattoos have been a buzzed-about topic among her fans for years. Some have suggested that the country superstar’s arms might even be covered in ink, theorizing that her penchant for clothing that fully covers her shoulders and arms has been hiding a full sleeve of tattoos.

So when Parton hit the stage at the 61st Grammy Awards to perform a medley of some of her hits in a white outfit that appeared to be sheer around her shoulders and down her arms, some viewers did a double take.

GRAMMYS 2019: Full Coverage »

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However, a closer look at photos of the performance — which also featured Katy Perry, Kacey Musgraves, Miley Cyrus, Maren Morris and Little Big Town — shows that what appeared to be flesh at first glance is more likely to be nude fabric.

Everybody from Larry King to Vanity Fair has asked Parton about her tattoos over the years, and she has denied having full sleeves, explaining that her tattoos are not meant to be bold statements.

“I don’t look like a biker chick or nothing, but if I was younger and could ride a bike, I might,” she told E! News in 2017.

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“I have some tattoos that I started doing just to cover up scarring that I have,” Parton once told King. “I have scarring that sometimes won’t ever lose the purple, so I started having little pastel little things to disguise things and I’ve splattered them here and there.”

For now, the mystery around Parton’s tattoos remains.

tracy.brown@latimes.com

Twitter: @tracycbrown

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