Dolly Parton’s sister, Freida Parton, insisted there is “no feud within our family” after the country icon’s manager reportedly filed a restraining order against her nephew, Bryan Seaver.
“No one among the Parton/Owens family is fighting over Dolly’s estate,” Frieda’s social media message read on Wednesday, adding “We all love Bryan, just as we all love each other.” She concluded, “I love you all!!”
The statement comes amid apparently escalating tension between Seaver, who was the Grammy winner’s head of security, and Dolly’s longtime manager Danny Nozell.
TMZ reported on Tuesday that Nozell filed for a temporary restraining order against Seaver — who announced the “Jolene” hitmaker’s deathvia social media on Aug. 25 — alleging the latter had been threatening him since before Dolly’s death and trying to extort him for money.
The restraining order would keep Seaver from within 1,000 feet of Parton’s Nashville, Tennessee, offices and inserting himself into her businesses.
Per the outlet, Nozell accused the longtime head of security of “invoking his self-proclaimed military-contractor experience, access to weapons, and capacity for violence” to procure funds.
“All I do is warfare … everyone needs to be worried about what I might do,” Nozell claimed Seaver wrote in a message.
“Her money better be bigger than I can make elsewhere or I’m going to f–k everyone,” he allegedly wrote in another message. “I am about to become the hand of retribution for my entire family.”
Seaver responded in comments to the outlet, claiming the messages were misconstrued. “Nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the comments I stand by,” Seaver told the outlet.
“I was talking frankly in a private way with Danny who I thought was my friend and he fancies himself a gangster,” he continued. “A lot of these messages are two guys having rage talk and crying on the phone together while we were grieving.”
News broke on Monday that Seaver and his security companies had been fired, with Seaver telling TMZ that he and his team were “dismayed by the unexpected and, so far, unexplained actions” and expressing concern that changes to Dolly’s estate could be in “bad faith.”
“We remain unshakably resolved to fulfill [Parton’s] final directive to protect her family, and we refuse to be intimidated by those whose actions we believe are being taken in bad faith and with the intent to profit from the life of someone who willingly gave so much,” he added.
Per the outlet, security was immediately replaced at Dolly’s residence in Nashville, along with her downtown home, warehouse, and museum.
The termination did not, according to TMZ, remove Seaver’s personal interest in the “9 to 5” star’s trust, which covers properties and business interests.
Meanwhile, employees of Dolly’s management company, She’s Alive, LLC., were allegedly getting private security after fleeing the offices over the alleged texts.
Lawsuit documents obtained by Page Six on Wednesday claimed that Seaver allegedly “menaced and intimidated” staffers at Dolly’s SongTeller Hotel and Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum in downtown Nashville.
Per the lawsuit, Seaver threatened to “destroy the entire brand if you don’t get these [Dollywood business partners] out of our bit…. I’m going to go to Billboard Magazine with my s–t. Just like you.”
He allegedly added, “I’m going to ratf–k every [Dollywood business partner] entity I can possibly conjure.”
The text messages were described in the filing as a “direct threat to sabotage a core business relationship and to use public exposure as a weapon against SAL and its partners.”
Some personnel allegedly resigned, the country star’s trusts and estates attorney withdrew, and staff members refused to come into the office over the alleged messages.
Seaver notably was the one chosen to announce his aunt’s death, via an emotional pre-recorded video message shared to her Instagram on Aug. 25.
“As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it until now,” Seaver said.
“It is an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness. But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly.”
He added that his aunt called him prior to her death and “said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest.”
The post Dolly Parton’s sister addresses family feud rumors following nephew’s firing and restraining order appeared first on Page Six.
