Featured Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Topics: Celebrity, US News, Miley Cyrus, Music
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Celebrity, US News, Miley Cyrus, Music
Any fan of Dolly Parton knows by now that the country music favourite is uber-close to her goddaughter Miley Cyrus.
Apparently, however, the duo's relationship goes back a lot further than Christening traditions, and the '9-5' singer herself had a pretty iconic reaction to the recent discovery that they're actually related by blood.
When baby Miley was born all the way back in 1992, it didn't take long for her father, 'Achey Breaky Heart' singer Billy Ray Cyrus to choose national treasure Dolly to be one of her most trusting guardians.
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"I'm her honorary godmother," Dolly told Good Morning America back in 2009. "I’ve known her since she was a baby. Her father’s a friend of mine, and when she was born, he said, ‘You just have to be her godmother,’ and I said, 'I accept.' "We never did do a big ceremony, but I’m so proud of her, love her. And she’s just like one of my own."
Dolly went on to appear as a guest in Hannah Montana - the Disney series that sky-rocketed Miley into the spotlight - and the duo have since worked together on several musical numbers.
Sitting down with Access Hollywood recently, the 78-year-old was dealt the exciting news that she and Miley are actually related.
The news outlet revealed they'd used Ancestry.com to confirm the connection, and it's safe to say that Dolly was pretty excited by the news.
"Is that true? That’s amazing," she exclaimed earlier this week (23 September).
"Well, we’re so close, Miley and I, I thought we would have been at least third cousins, ten times removed."
According to the celebrity reporters, the chart-topping duo actually share a mutual great-grandfather - a Tennessee resident named John Brinkley, who actually lived just 20 miles from Dollywood.
She added that 'Flowers' singer Miley would 'get a kick of' the fact that their connection is much deeper than they originally believed.
"But it doesn’t surprise me because she does feel like family," Dolly continued.
Miley and Dolly are often papped enjoying loved-up embraces on the red carpet together, and with the former even going as far as to compare the 'Jolene' singer to her own mum.
"Dolly’s been like a mother to me," she told W Magazine earlier this year. "Actually, I was just reading this fax that she sent me two Mother’s Days ago.
"Dolly wrote to me to say, ‘How much do I love you? As much as my heart can hold and as far as my arms can reach'," she recalled.
"It gets me choked up. I just love her so much."