career started after the release of her debut album Hello, I’m Dolly back in 1967. The star has managed to remarkably maintain a successful career, selling more than 100 million records worldwide. She has had 25 songs reach the number one spot on the Billboard country music chart and an overflowing awards cabinet to match. Yet behind the scenes, Dolly has struggled with health problems for a large part of her career. Some of which she revealed in her 2017 book Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton.

“See, I was thirty-five when I first got sick,” Dolly confessed in the book.

“I went to the very bottom as far as my emotions and my health are concerned.

“I was getting away with murder. I wasn’t watching what I ate, I wasn’t conscious of nutrition, wasn’t taking care of myself. I was working hard, and underneath I was a pile of personal and emotional problems.

“All at once I fell apart. It was stomach problems and female problems—all over health problems actually.

“It was God’s way of telling me to get myself straight… I’m grateful it happened when I was still young enough to bounce back.”

Specifically, the star’s health troubles struck when she had achieved huge success with hit-song 9 to 5, and made her film debut with The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

These looming problems reached a climax when in 1984 the star collapsed on stage in Indianapolis, after ignoring doctor's orders not to perform.

Suffering from internal bleeding, the star was later diagnosed with endometriosis - an often painful disorder in which tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus grows outside your uterus.

For those like Dolly who have a hysterectomy, individuals can be in hospital for up to five days after surgery, with full recovery taking about six to eight weeks.

There is also a small risk of complications with the surgery. These include: heavy bleeding, infection, damage to your bladder or bowel or a serious reaction to the general anaesthetic.