Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Ryan Reynolds sends gift to Dolly Parton to celebrate Welsh ancestry

Earlier this year, Parton revealed that a four-part TV series tracing her roots had found she had links to the Welsh valleys.

Casey Cooper-Fiske
Thursday 27 June 2024 10:47 EDT
Dolly Parton has been sent a Wrexham AFC scarf by the football club’s owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney (Yui Mok/PA)
Dolly Parton has been sent a Wrexham AFC scarf by the football club’s owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Archive)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Hollywood star and Wrexham AFC owner Ryan Reynolds has sent a gift to country music singer Dolly Parton, after she was found to have Welsh ancestry.

A documentary series looking at her roots previously traced her heritage back to the Welsh valleys.

Parton, 78, began her music career in 1959, with the unsuccessful single Puppy Love, before The Last Thing On My Mind, a duet with Porter Wagoner, set her on the path to the worldwide fame she achieved with classic hits such as Jolene and I Will Always Love You.

Now in a video posted to Twitter by Reynolds, Parton can be seen with a Wrexham football scarf sent to her by the Deadpool star, which she described as “beautiful”.

Parton said: “You may have seen my recent announcement about possibly having Welsh ancestry, well I was tickled to learn that, and I was even more tickled when I received a lovely gift from the Welsh Board of Tourism and Docudramas.

“They sent me this beautiful scarf and asked if I’d say a few words about Wales.”

The video then shows the 9 to 5 star opening a letter, remarking “I hope these are not written in Welsh”, before announcing that new episodes of Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s Welcome To Wrexham series are now streaming.

The pair then appear and explain the organisation is not real and it was in fact them who sent the gift to the singer.

McElhenney told Parton: “You see when we found out your family might be from Wales, we thought who better to help promote our docuseries about North Wales and their beloved football club?”

A series of clips from the documentary are then shown, to which Parton replied: “Well, that is just so nice – it kind of makes me feel homesick.”

The second series of the docudrama showed the Welsh football team being promoted from League Two to League One under the US owners, with the new third series set to show the club’s attempt to achieve promotion to the second tier of English football, the Championship.

The third season of Welcome To Wrexham is streaming on Disney+.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in