When I heard the story that Loretta Lynn may have lied about her age, I really didn’t think much of it… most women shave a few years off at some point. Well, except me… I tell people I’m ten years older than I am so they say I look great… I don’t say I’m younger than my age otherwise people would be thinking I was rode hard and put away wet… but I digress.
So what? Loretta fibbed a bit. BUT, this means that some of the pivotal information in her infamous life story may be completely false!
According to the state of Kentucky, Loretta Webb was born in Johnson County, Ky. in 1932, making the Queen of Country 80-years-old, NOT 77. And her marriage license to her now deceased husband, O.V. “Mooney” Lynn, shows the two got hitched on Jan. 10, 1948. This proves that the singer was married just shy of her 16th birthday, not at 13 as told in Coal Miner’s Daughter.
Now, Loretta’s not the first to lie about her age, but the story of her married at 13 and 4 babies by 18 is the foundation for Coal Miner’s Daughter.
Loretta has often declined comment about her age and said in her book, “When I was born, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the president for several years. That’s the closest I’m gonna come to telling my age in this book, so don’t go looking for it. I’m trying to make a living singing songs. I don’t need nobody out there saying, ‘She don’t look bad considering she’s such-and-such years old.’”
Her publicist released this statement from the singer: “If anyone asks how old I am, tell them it’s none of their business!”
Loretta is not only a pioneer in country music, but has often been cited as a leader in women’s lib for hits such as ‘Fist City,’ ‘Rated X,’ and ‘The Pill.’ She has 16 No. 1 hits to her name and has recorded 54 studio albums. She’s also been inducted into more music Halls of Fame than any other female recording artist. That includes both the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2010, she received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for 50 years in country music.
Now, her music career was huge long before Coal Miner’s Daughter was written or made into a movie (if it wasn’t, no one would have really cared about her life story now, would they?) so getting married at 13, etc., didn’t really HELP her career, but it certainly made her story a lot more compelling. But some are arguing that Coal Miner’s Daughter wouldn’t have been as big a hit movie and that perhaps Loretta lied to further her career early on.
So to be quite frank, I don’t care how old Loretta is or if she fudged her age a bit. She’s the Queen of Country music… not because of her age, but because she’s a supremely talented writer and performer.
What do you think? Would “Coal Miner’s Daughter” been as successful if it portrayed Loretta as her “true” age? Or do you even care?
