Inside the bitter family feud brewing behind the scenes of Dolly Parton’s $450 million real estate drama

Dolly Parton’s $450 million inheritance has become the center of a bitter family division as the legal battle over her vast estate intensifies.

An insider exclusively told Page Six that several members of Parton’s family were not on the side of her nephew and former head of security, Bryan Seaver, who was accused of sending threats to the late musician’s employees.

“Things with Bryan seem to be going badly in the family,” our source said, noting that “publicly, most defend him, but not all.”

Our insider expressed his own distrust of Seaver, calling him a “fraud” and saying Parton herself was beginning to question whether he was overstepping her authority after keeping her safe for decades.

“(Dolly) eventually realized that he was becoming too powerful and that maybe his intentions weren’t good, but she didn’t know how to approach that,” our source claimed, noting that the beloved country singer “wasn’t a confrontational person.”

Despite Seaver’s alleged standing among some of Parton’s inner circle, our source says it’s unlikely they’ll criticize him publicly for fear of tarnishing his reputation.

“The family is generally quiet about internal matters. Part of that is probably to protect Dolly and preserve the family name,” our insider explained.

However, the source pointed out a recent comment on Instagram from Parton’s niece Danielle Parton — who was just announced as an official brand ambassador for Dolly’s Estate — in which she suggested there was bad blood with Seaver.

In response to a video Danielle posted titled “Crazy Dad Story,” one user commented, “I guess we see where Bryan Severs (sic) gets this from here,” to which she replied, “If we want to be friends you won’t compare Bryan Seaver to my dad.” »

Seaver claimed earlier this week that he and his children were barred from attending Wednesday’s CMA tribute show honoring his aunt, although he did not say whether any family members were involved in the decision.

“What a great tribute. I wasn’t invited. Neither was my daughter, Dolly, who writes songs and plays the guitar, chooses her offspring with her fingers,” he posted on Facebook on Thursday.

“The rest of my entire family was invited. A few attended. My children and I were told not to attend. Such is life…”

Seaver and Danielle immediately responded to Page Six’s requests for comment.

In September, Danny Nozell — Dolly’s longtime manager who runs She’s Alive, LLC, the company that manages her business interests and professional assets — filed a lawsuit and sought a restraining order against Seaver shortly after firing him as her head of security.

In the filing, Nozell claimed that Seaver invoked “his self-proclaimed experience as a military contractor, his access to weapons and his capacity for violence” to demand money and that he began threatening him weeks before Dolly’s Aug. 25 death.

Company employees also stopped coming to the office out of fear of Seaver’s alleged text messages, Nozell alleged.

Some of the texts Seaver allegedly sent, according to screenshots presented in the filing, included threats that he was going to “ratf-k every entity (Dollywood business partners) he can possibly bring up.”

In another message, Seaver allegedly wrote, “His money better be bigger than what I can make anywhere else, otherwise I’m going to screw everyone over. I’m about to become the hand of punishment for my whole family.”

Nozell argued that Seaver’s alleged texts constituted “a direct threat to sabotage a critical business relationship and use public exposure as a weapon against SAL and its partners.”

Additionally, Page Six exclusively reported that Seaver allegedly “threatened and intimidated” staff at Dolly’s SongTeller Hotel and the Life of Many Colors Museum. He also allegedly lashed out at one particular employee in an expletive-filled email, calling him a “fucking s-tbag loser” while threatening that his lawyers would “start fucking your ass.”

However, a source previously told us that Nozell – who worked with Dolly for over 20 years – might have ulterior motives for taking Seaver to court.

“He wants the family out and wants to turn his house into Graceland,” the source claimed at the time, adding that the Grammy winner was the moral compass of his businesses — and “Danny doesn’t have Dolly’s heart.”

Seaver, for his part, criticized Nozell for dragging him into a legal battle while he and his loved ones are actively grieving.

“As the family grieved, the business leader addressed the court and the media with a surprising and incomplete story,” his lawyers told Page Six earlier this month.

“Seeing text messages that were misleading and taken out of context was very hurtful to our client and his family.”

Notably, it was Seaver who announced Dolly’s death at the age of 80 following a brief and secret battle with cancer.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for November 3.