Dolly Parton nearly ‘froze to death’

Dolly Parton and her family nearly "froze to death" when she was younger.

The 70-year-old country singer has revealed her brood nearly tragically perished one winter when it snowed particularly hard trapping them in their house in the Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee, and the star believes it was a "miracle" they survived.

She said: "We lived way back in the mountains, and we had boarded up our windows to keep the snow and wind out, and had no idea it was going to snow like that. We got trapped in there.

"We thought we were going to die and our little tears were frozen on our little faces.

"We were frozen, no fire, no food, no nothing. And so it had to have been prayer that melted the snow around us and got us out of there. That’s kind of like our Christmas miracle.

"Momma had a lot of faith, Momma had those visions and dreams that she sensed something was going to happen, but because of her great faith, she prayed us through."

Dolly was recently reminded of the incident as it will feature on her festive TV movie ‘Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love’ – a follow up from last year’s ‘Coat of Many Colors’ small screen film – but the star admitted some of the stories involving her parents were tough to watch.

Speaking to ‘Entertainment Tonight’, she added: "The first one was real emotional because it was the first time on camera my family had been exposed.

"But this one has so many things in it that will really pull at your heart."

In the film, Alyvia Alyn Lind returns as young Dolly, Jennifer Nettles reprises her role as Dolly’s mum, and Ricky Schroder is back as her father.

She said: "It’s so cute, I’ve always loved Ricky Schroder since he was a little bitty boy.

"He looks a lot like my dad’s people. It makes me miss Mom and Dad a lot."