Dolly Parton's sister denies family feud

Dolly Parton's sister has denied the family are feuding in the wake of her death.

The country legend passed away on 25 August at the age of 80 and after her nephew Bryan Seaver was later sacked by her estate from his role as head of security and subjected to a restraining order by She's Alive - the company created by the 9 to 5 hitmaker to protect her affairs after her death - Freida Parton has spoken out to address the tense situation.

Freida, 69, wrote on Instagram on Wednesday (23.09.26): “Hi I’ll say this and this only: there is no feud within our family. No one among the Parton/Owens family is fighting over Dolly’s estate.

After She's Alive were granted a temporary restraining order this week, Bryan insisted the legal move was a "publicity stunt".

Responding to the lawsuit, he told ABC News in a statement: "The restraining order is spurious and simply a publicity stunt."

"After the estate negotiated with me and my company for services in perpetuity and agreed to that service provision from my company

In documents obtained by People magazine, it's alleged Bryan began a "campaign of threats, intimidation, and coercion a few weeks prior to Ms. Parton’s passing".

The filing continued: "In writing, he vowed to ‘destroy the entire brand’ and also told her entertainment attorney: “I’m not an entertainment person. I’m a killer.' "

In response, Bryan denied the allegations and insisted his text had been taken "out of context".

He added: "Dolly called me her killer. It was a joke we used around her camp.

"I was her 'baby boy ninja' and Danny Nozell took that text out of context to somehow imagine that I was threatening him. He’s always called me The Killer."

The documents noted Dolly “loved and cared for her family very deeply,” and felt strongly about employing members of her family who could fit with business needs, but in the weeks leading up to and after her death, Bryan allegedly launched a “campaign of threats, intimidation and coercion” and vowed to “inflict reputational and economic harm” on those tasked with protecting her legacy, including by launching a podcast specifically to ruin any brand partnerships unless he was paid.

He has been accused of making “threats of real-world violence” to staff, leading to his termination.

Bryan insisted he "never threatened anyone", adding: "They are my friends and my brothers and colleagues."