Dolly Parton Learns She's Related To Goddaughter Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus has spent her life — both on Hannah Montana and offscreen — calling Dolly Parton “Aunt Dolly,” after her parents named the country singer as her godmother. However, it turns out they’re actually related. Parton learned that she and Cyrus were distant cousins during a Sept. 24 interview on Access Hollywood.

“Is that true? That’s amazing!” she said. “I’m sure she'll get a kick out of that, but it doesn’t surprise me because she does feel like family.”

According to the family tree tracking site Ancestry, the two share a common ancestor, John Brickey, who was born in 1740 in Virginia and then moved with his family to Tennessee, their home estate. He is Parton’s sixth great-grandfather and Cyrus’ seventh great-grandfather, making them seventh cousins, once removed.

“We’re so close, Miley and I, I’d have thought we’d have been at least third cousins,” Parton said.

Miley & Dolly’s Relationship

After she first appeared on Hannah Montana in 2006, Parton revealed in 2009 that she was also Cyrus’ godmother in real life.

“I've known her since she was a baby,” she told ABC. “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.”

As Cyrus grew up, the two became even closer. In June, Cyrus told W Magazine that “Dolly’s been like a mother to me,” and recalled a fax that Parton sent to her on a past Mother’s Day. “How much do I love you? As much as my heart can hold and as far as my arms can reach,” Parton wrote, according to Cyrus. “It gets me choked up. I just love her so much.”

The feeling is mutual, with Parton telling the London Evening Standard how much their relationship has grown. “Miley became my goddaughter; I was her fairy godmother,” she said. “We really have a true bond; she is like a daughter to me.”