The Cosmetic Surgery Rumor Everyone Believes About Dolly Parton

What do Dolly Parton and Marilyn Manson have in common? Well, beyond them being musicians who are unrecognizable without makeup, not much. Interestingly enough, though, both have been the subject of a very similar, surgery-related rumor. Readers of a certain age are likely all too familiar with the schoolyard urban legend that Manson had his bottom ribs surgically removed. Parton has had to contend with near-identical allegations in the past, even if her alleged reasons for undergoing such a procedure are quite different.

The story goes that the "9 to 5" hitmaker had a rib removed in order to both shrink her waist and accentuate her breasts. Not to kill the mystique or anything, but this is not in the least bit true. Shocking, we know. But given Parton's affinity for plastic surgery, it's not difficult to see why a tall tale like this would take hold in the first place — even if all logic and reason dictates that it's utterly absurd. Fortunately for us, the woman herself made her thoughts on the matter perfectly clear during a 2014 interview with Woman's Day.

While discussing some of the false facts that have circulated about Parton over the years, the rib story inevitably came up. "Oh, that is so BS!" the country singer quipped in response, before recalling a time when the rumor actually got back to her: "I went into a restroom in Los Angeles years ago, and this girl said, 'Oh, I want you to tell me, does that really hurt?' I was like, 'What? Does what hurt?' She said, 'Like, when they take your ribs out.' 'Take my ribs out? I was just gonna order ribs for dinner! What are you talking about?'"

Of course, the likes of Dolly Parton and Marilyn Manson aren't the only celebrities to face rumors of rib removal over the years. As the country icon pointed out in her chat with Woman's Day, the lady who approached her in the bathroom also name-dropped Cher as someone who had allegedly undergone the procedure. Notably, Cher herself definitively shot down the rumors back in 1990, when a doctor confirmed she still had all of her ribs, per Snopes. Additionally, during a 2000 interview with Vogue, plastic surgeon Dr. John E. Sherman confessed that he had never heard of a rib removal being performed purely for cosmetic purposes since it would be extremely high risk with almost no reward. 

"I'm sure, because people always bring it up, that someone's done it, somewhere," he explained, adding, "But there's never been anything published about it; no one has ever owned up to performing such a procedure, much less to having had one. To risk your life — your ribs are right there up against your lung tissue — for what would be a relatively minor change in aesthetics would be crazy." But times change. And, in 2015, a Swedish model named Pixee Fox opened up about getting not one, not two, but six of her ribs removed for cosmetic purposes. However, to Dr. Sherman's point, she admitted that finding a surgeon who would actually be willing to perform the procedure proved to be very difficult. 

"[It's] almost impossible," she acknowledged to Barcroft TV (via YouTube), elaborating, "The only reason why I can do it now is because doctors finally started taking me seriously, because they see that I'm not a crazy person."