Danielle Parton Opens Up on Her Own Cancer Battle and Dolly's Reaction

The stars of country, Broadway, and pop music all came together in Nashville to honor Dolly Parton, and 'Extra' got an inside look at the CMA celebration from Dolly's niece Danielle Parton.

Danielle was in the audience and believes her 'Aunt Granny' would have loved the magical night!

Danielle, the daughter of Dolly's older brother Bobby, tells 'Extra's' Mona Kosar Abdi she is 'still a little overwhelmed' by the response. She noted, 'I've always known that Dolly was a huge star, but it's fascinating to me to see the outpouring of love.'

She gushed of Dolly, 'She always acted like we were the prettiest, the bestest.'

Danielle even bears a resemblance to Dolly! She admitted, 'I've heard it before.'

In a strange twist of fate, while Dolly was secretly fighting cancer, so was Danielle.

Danielle shared, 'I'm going through a little bit of a cancer battle myself right now. I'm okay. Stage zero, caught it early, getting it done. But she took it really heavy, and that's how I figured out. I didn't know, like anybody else, what she was dealing with. I knew she was sick.'

She recalled, 'I think it was around August 6 when I talked to her, and I figured out that she was dealing with cancer most likely at that point. And so, she was just devastated that I was going through it, and I remember telling her, I'm like, 'Look, you gotta get it together. It ain't that deep. I just wanted you to know 'cause she knew I was having a biopsy. If she remembered, she would have got all over me. She'd have called and really chewed me a good one.'

Danielle brought attention to Dolly's caring nature, saying, 'She worried more about everybody else before she would ever let you know anything was wrong with her.'