Dolly Parton has to be “ambulance-ready at all times” as she can’t leave the house without her hair and make-up done.

The 74-year-old country music legend has admitted that she always makes sure she looks her best and has her glam done, just in case she ever got sick or there was an earthquake and she needed to leave the house in an emergency.

Speaking to RuPaul for Marie Claire’s festive digital edition - of which she is the cover star - the ‘Jolene’ hitmaker said: “I have to always stay ready—street ready, I always say. I have to keep my makeup on and keep my hair done.

"If it's going to earthquake, if we get an earthquake, I'm not running out in the street looking like you now.

"I have to be ambulance-ready at all times, if I get sick or something.”

The '9 to 5’ singer previously revealed she even sleeps in her make-up.

She said last year: "You never know if you’re going to wreck the [tour] bus, you never know if you’re going to be somewhere in a hotel and there’s going to be a fire. So I leave my make-up on at night and clean my face in the morning."

However, that doesn't mean she isn't comfortable in her own skin.

She told the publication: "But I can come down, though.

"I’m comfortable in my own skin; I’m comfortable with my image. I dress for myself more than I do for somebody else.”

Meanwhile, Dolly says she feels "more like [herself]" when she's in high heels, but she also needs the height to be able to reach for things.

The pint-sized music icon - who is 5ft - said of her preferred choice of shoe: "They’re not always as high as the ones I wear for show. But I’m little. I’m short. And I have to wear heels in order to reach my cabinets. But I always enjoy wearing the shoes too, and I just feel more like me."