Dolly Parton’s Driver Reveals Private Heartbreak

“She didn’t say much, but she sometimes talked about how much she missed him so much,” said Pirro, 80, noting the lovebirds spoke on the telephone several times a day when they weren’t together.

“I think that’s why she passed away so soon after he did,” he said. “She died of a broken heart, but she didn’t want to say that because she didn’t want people feeling sorry for her.”

Parton’s death left Pirro devastated. “We were very close to each other,” he said. “We were born nine days apart in the same year, and we always got along. I was her assistant, and I drove her up until three years ago, because I developed macular degeneration and I couldn’t drive anymore.”

Pirro admitted he immediately developed a bond with the 9 to 5 singer the first day he picked her up at LAX, when she insisted he call her Dolly instead of Mrs. Parton.

Their relationship blossomed into an unbreakable friendship in the 1980s, when Pirro confided in Parton he was born female and named Susan Ann before transitioning to Jason following s– reassignment surgery.

“When I told her, she didn’t care,” he recalled. “She just said, ‘That’s fine with me, you are who you are,’ and it never got in the way of anything we were doing.”

For the rest of Parton’s life, she and Pirro shared their innermost secrets and bonded over transcendental meditation and their shared philosophy of human kindness.

“She just didn’t tell people what they should be thinking or what they should be doing,” Pirro said. “She loved everybody as long as they were kind.”

Unlike others in Parton’s inner circle, Pirro had a front-row seat to the frenetic work schedule, sparkling Southern charm and bighearted personality that made her an American icon – and even watched in amazement as she seemingly pulled songs out of thin air.

“Do you know she wrote Jolene and I Will Always Love You the same night?” said Pirro, who, like many of Parton’s longtime employees, still has lifetime health insurance through the singer’s employee plan.

“She was just amazing the way she could crank out songs because she had a real talent. I’ve seen her write six songs in two days.”

One of Pirro’s greatest pleasures was watching the love and laughter Parton and Dean shared.

“They were both hysterical,” Pirro said. “They were both the funniest people you ever knew. They shared a unique happiness that seemed to naturally amplify when they were together.

“In a way, I think she was looking forward to passing. It’s sad, but they had a good life together. The way their relationship was, she knew that they were going to be in heaven forever. I didn’t think it would be that soon, but it was.”