Dolly Parton once contemplated suicide when she realised she'd left it too late to become a natural mum.
The country star, 64, suffered a terrible bout of depression when the menopause hit in the mid-1980s and she seriously thought about taking her life.
Parton tells the Globe, "I went through a dark time - it lasted several months.
"Then one day, I just said to myself, 'Right, get off your fat butt, or if you really are suicidal, then go and shoot your brains out.'"
And the singer reveals her depression was intensified by regrets she had about not having kids with husband Carl Dean.
She adds, "I think I would have made a nice mama. I always thought I'd have kids. We tried to for so many years, and then I put it on hold because my career was doing so well and I was on birth control pills."
But Parton has come to terms with the sadness of not having kids and admits working with children's charities has helped her fill the void in many ways: "I thought, 'Maybe God didn't want me to have kids so that everybody else's kids could be mine."