Dolly Parton and her sister Stella both pursued music careers. Stella spoke about why this made it nearly impossible to see Dolly.

As Dolly Parton ascended to higher and higher levels of fame, some people — including her sister, Stella — complained that they never saw her anymore. Dolly said that this was in no way intentional; as her career grew, she had increasingly limited free time. Still, it was hard for her family members. Stella teared up as she spoke about the distance between herself and her sister.

Dolly Parton’s sister Stella said she rarely saw the singer

Though Dolly is the most successful member of her family, many of her relatives have pursued music careers. Stella is one of them, and she was often touring at the same time as Dolly. As a result, Stella said she hardly ever saw her sister. Even when they were in the same place for holidays, they were rarely alone together.

“I used to share a bedroom with Dolly, and now I never see her,” Stella told Alanna Nash in the book Dolly. “I saw her in February, when you were at the house, and I saw her in May, when we taped The Mike Douglas Show, and then again at Christmas, and that wasn’t even alone.”

Stella teared up while discussing seeing her sister on television.

“I was watchin’ TV the other night and she was on, and I thought, ‘That’s my sister,’ you know?’” she said. “And now we don’t even …”

The sisters accidentally booked the same hotel for the night

Because of their touring schedules, both Dolly and Stella spent many nights sleeping in hotels. They once were lucky enough to have booked the same place for the night, even if they didn’t realize it at first. It took an operator accidentally sending a call meant for Dolly to Stella’s room for them to realize.

“I said, ‘Well, is she here?’” Stella recalled. “And they said yeah, and they rung her room for me, and she said [here Stella goes into a dead-on impersonation of Dolly], ‘Stella, where you at? What are you doin’ callin’ me?’ And I said, ‘I’m downstairs, probably the next floor down. Look out your window and you can probably see a little nekkid body goin’ across the window.’ So she came down, and we visited.”

While Stella enjoyed the time they spent together, she wished they had known in advance.

“It was kind of a pleasant thing,” she said. “But I didn’t know she was there, and she didn’t know I was. If she had of, she’d have gone with me the night before to the Palomino Club where I was workin’.”

Dolly Parton’s sister shared what it was like to grow up with her

Dolly and Stella are three years apart, and they grew up very close. Stella shared what it was like to grow up with Dolly as a sister.

“We shared a bedroom together,” she said on the talk show Vicki!. “She was messy and I was neat. We would write songs together. She always wrote the good lines and would laugh at my bad ones. But it was not that bad.”

Stella said she always wanted to be with her older sister. While they butted heads often, they grew up as close friends.