Dolly Parton made waves when she became the first female country artist to appear on the cover of Playboy in 1978. Turns out, the outfit she wore for the magazine’s photo shoot has a surprising connection to another A-list star.
Appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show on Monday, Dolly confirmed that her black bustier, bow tie and bunny ears were the handiwork of costume designer Patricia Taylor, who is the mother of actor Keanu Reeves.
The Grammy winner recalled meeting Keanu as a child, when he would accompany his mum on assignments.
“She did a lot of sewing for me. She did a lot of my clothes,” Dolly said. “I remember Keanu when he was just little, and she would bring him over to my house when we were fitting or when I would go to the shop where she worked.”
Dolly said that years later, Keanu came backstage to say hello after one of her concerts. By then, the actor had risen to fame thanks to performances in films like Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Point Break.
“He said, ’Do you remember me? I’m the little boy that used to sit at your feet when my mum was [working],’” she recalled. “Of course I knew he had become a star. But it didn’t connect to me that that was who that was.”
Keanu discussed his mother’s longtime working relationship with Dolly Parton in an appearance on Red Table Talk in 2021. Though he didn’t specify the year, he said he ended up wearing Dolly Parton’s Playboy outfit as a Halloween costume.
“I put on the ears and the bustier,” he said. “I wore sneakers with fishnet stockings and the bowtie. I had some pretty long hair, and I was Dolly Parton as a Playboy Bunny.”
When Drew Barrymore mentioned Keanu’s Halloween claim to Dolly, she appeared flattered.
“Aw, that’s sweet,” she said. “He’s great. He’s the sweetest guy.”
Though Dolly didn’t appear nude in Playboy, her appearance on the magazine’s cover 45 years ago was still seen as a risky move for a mainstream star.
She went on to recreate the now-iconic look in 2021 as a birthday surprise for her husband, Carl Thomas Dean.
“He still thinks I’m a hot chick after 57 years,” she quipped on Instagram at the time. “And I’m not going to try and talk him out of that.”
Watch Dolly Parton’s Drew Barrymore interview below.