Parton, the singer and actor, said in an interview with the New York Times that she and her parents had been trying to conceive since their daughter’s birth.
But, she said, “I’ve just had to give up because I was too afraid to have any children.”
Parton, 65, is not the only celebrity who lost a child while trying to become pregnant.
In the United States, the number of pregnancies that have ended in abortion have risen sharply, reaching more than 100,000 in 2014.
But experts have noted that some mothers are not having children out of choice but because of financial and emotional problems.
In the case of Parton and her husband, the couple has two daughters, ages 15 and 16, from a previous marriage and are expecting a third child.
Parton said she was “devastated” to learn that she would have to give birth to the children in the hospital, but said that she has been able to work to “make things right.”
“I have a job and I have an apartment, and I’m making it work,” she told the Times.
“My daughter and my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter are doing OK,” she added.
“But they’re very happy and happy and proud and excited about what I’m doing.”
