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Miley Cyrus often gushes about the close bond she shares with her godmother, Dolly Parton, and she recently opened up about a message from Parton that brought her to tears.

“Dolly’s been like a mother to me. Actually, I was just reading this fax that she sent me two Mother’s Days ago,” Cyrus, 31, recently told W Magazine. 

“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,’” Cyrus recalled. “It gets me choked up. I just love her so much.”

She also spoke affectionately about Parton’s fondness for communicating via fax.

“No one else faxes. I literally have to access my lawyer’s office, because the lawyer is the only person who can still receive a fax,” she said.

It’s no secret that Parton will always love her goddaughter, but how did their sweet connection begin?

Read on to learn more about the loving bond these two musical icons share.

Parton has known Cyrus since ‘before she was born’

Parton, 78, shared the story of how she became Cyrus’ godmother during an interview in 2023 on SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show.”

Parton explained that she became close to the “Flowers” singer’s father, Billy Ray Cyrus, when he toured with her while promoting his 1992 single, “Achy Breaky Heart.”

“We just got to be good friends because he’s a Kentucky boy, I’m from Tennessee,” Parton said. “And he said … ‘We’re having a girl, and you’ve got to be her godmother!’ And I said, ‘Well, I’d be honored.’ So actually, Miley and I took over from there. We just stayed very, very close through the years.”

Parton also described her goddaughter as her “little sweetheart,” adding: “I’ve known her since before she was born, actually.”

Parton guest-starred on ‘Hannah Montana’

Parton played the character of Aunt Dolly on three episodes of “Hannah Montana": 2006’s “Good Golly, Miss Dolly,” 2007’s “I Will Always Loathe You” and 2010’s “Kiss It All Goodbye.”

The country legend said she felt like a “proud mama” as she worked with her young goddaughter on the hit Disney Channel series.

“I was so proud of her. I thought she was sensational,” Parton told Vanity Fair in 2020. 

“We just worked so great together. ... And thanks to her, I had a whole new following of people that were turned on to me,” she also said. “These young, little kids that were her fans, and kids that were fans of just the whole show, and the other little artists on the show, but here I am, Miley’s fairy godmother.”

Cyrus also reflected on the experience of working with Parton on "Hannah Montana" in a 2021 essay for Time magazine.

"I remember when she came in to do a table read for 'Hannah Montana' in all her bedazzled glory. Her smell, the way her nails tapped the table, the sound it made when she flipped the pages of the script — I could see that she fascinated other people too," Cyrus wrote. "A living fantasy was in front of all of us."

They have collaborated multiple times

Parton and Cyrus have musically collaborated several times over the years.

They teamed up to co-host NBC's "Miley's New Year's Eve Party" to ring in 2023 and performed duets of two of their greatest ballads: Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" and Parton's "I Will Always Love You."

Parton opened up about the emotional experience of performing with her goddaughter.

“Even when we were rehearsing, Miley was crying,” Parton told Business Insider in 2023.

“The fact that we were singing so well together stirred up our emotions very much,” she also said. “Then we went into ‘I Will Always Love You’ and she would just have these tears coming down and it was so emotional.” 

Parton and Cyrus also performed a cover of "Wrecking Ball” for Parton’s rock album, “Rockstar,” which came out in November 2023.

The lyrics include what seems to be a playful nod to “I Will Always Love You.”

In the original version of “Wrecking Ball,” Cyrus sings, “I can’t live a lie, running for my life/ I will always want you,” but in the collaboration with Parton, the line is changed to, “I can’t live a lie, running for my life/ I will always love you.”

Cyrus celebrated this collaboration with her godmother in a post on the X platform.

“I’ve grown up covering my Aunt Dollys music & it’s an honor to hear her singing one of my songs,” she wrote. “I love you Aunt Dolly! I’m so happy to add another collaboration under our bedazzled (studded leather) belt!”

Parton is one of Cyrus’ biggest cheerleaders

Parton has always jumped at the chance to sing her goddaughter's praises, both professionally and personally.

The country legend called Cyrus "smart and talented" in an essay she penned when Cyrus was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2014.

"She knows what she’s doing. She was very proud of the work she did as Hannah Montana, but people were gonna leave her there forever," she wrote. "And she was just smotherin’ and chokin’ in it. So she felt she had to do something completely drastic. And she did. She made her point, she made her mark, and more power to her."

Parton also opened up about her unconditional love and support for Cyrus.

“I’ve always been proud of Miley. She is so talented. You know, everybody complains about all the things she goes through and all the things she’s done," she told Vanity Fair in 2020. "But you know, she’s like me. She’s finding her own space, she’s finding her own things, and she’ll always land on her feet. I don’t always have to agree with everything she does, but it ain’t my business. That’s her life. I’m just her fairy godmother, and I love her.”

She also praised her goddaughter when Howard Stern asked if Cyrus ever came to her for advice.

“Well, she’s asked me a lot of things. She mostly just runs things by me, and we talk,” she said. “She’s very successful. Miley’s very smart. She’s very intuitive about the business, and I just think Miley’s a spectacular human being and an amazing talent.”

Cyrus has called Parton her 'idol'

Cyrus has always spoken glowingly of her "fairy godmother."

"Have you ever met anyone who doesn’t love Dolly Parton? I never have," she wrote in an essay about Parton when the country star was honored on the Time 100 list in 2021. "Dolly is not only my idol because of her incomparable career — she’s also my role model because of her steadfast morals and values."

"There’s a theory that you shouldn’t meet your heroes, but I wish everyone had the chance to meet Dolly Parton, because she’s even better than your sparkliest dreams," Cyrus also wrote.

In her recent W magazine interview, Cyrus also mentioned thinking about her godmother as she reflected on having children someday.

"I’m 31 now, and I still don’t know if I want kids or not," she said. "I feel like my fans kind of are my kids in some way. I’ve heard Dolly say that too, because she didn’t have kids."

Cyrus has also opened up about her deep bond with Parton over the years.

“There’s a chemistry, and a realness, and a love, and a connection that her and I have that I really feel,” she told TODAY ahead of their New Year's Eve performance in 2022.

“You can see our chemistry and I really don’t think there’s much to write. There’s not much to choreograph. It’s all right there,” she added.

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