ITV News presenter Mary Nightingale looks teary as her voice breaks while announcing Dolly Parton's death and says she needs to 'take a deep breath'

ITV News presenter Mary Nightingale appeared to have been hit hard by Dolly Parton's death as she announced the sad news on Tuesday evening.

The newsreader, 63, shared the breaking story during the 6.30pm programme and viewers at home noticed Mary 'welling up' as she read the report.

Mary looked noticeably shaken by the news and her voice broke as she delivered the update to viewers at home, at one point saying she needed to 'take a deep breath'.

The breaking news was announced just before an advert and Mary said: 'Just before we go to the break tonight, some very sad news I'm afraid. The country music legend Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80.

Returning from the break, she continued: 'It's just been announced that the beloved American country singer and songwriter Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80. 

'Born in Tennessee just after the war she released her first album in 1967 and went on to have a 60 year music career.

'Along the way Dolly Parton won a string of Grammy and Emmy Awards, she was also an actor as well as setting up a foundation to help educate local children and tackle poverty.'

After a news package was shown detailing Dolly's incredible life, Mary said: 'And take a deep breath...'

Viewers noticed Mary's wobble but said they found the moment endearing as she was obviously affected by the news.

They said: 'Aw Mary Nightingale on ITV News welling up as she broke the news just now. The world is a poorer place tonight'; 'One of the most beautiful and genuine people this world has ever bestowed on the people. A real loss to so many. Even Mary Nightingale on ITV News was struggling from breaking the news to the end of the show'; 'ITV News reader sounded quite choked up about Dolly';

'Genuinely find it quite endearing how moved the news reader on ITV News is over the loss of Dolly Parton. It's making me also feel quite emotional, reminds me of my nan who lost in 2023.' 

The legendary country singer's death was confirmed in an Instagram video posted by her nephew Bryan Seaver, who also served as her head of security.

She died that morning after being admitted Friday to Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center with autoimmune and kidney problems, according to TMZ.

Dolly's loved ones began racing to Nashville upon hearing news of her hospitalization last week, but not all were able to reach her while she was alive.

'This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago before I fully absorbed it as a future reality,' Seaver revealed.

He hailed his aunt for having 'lived in the light' and said she was now 'in the arms of Jesus' and the company of her late husband Carl Dean, as well as her parents and 'countless others who have watched her and longed to meet her in the heavens'. 

Dolly, who is often referred to as the Queen of Country, enjoyed an illustrious music career that spanned an incredible six decades and was arguably best known for her hits Jolene and 9 to 5. 

Her passing came after months of health woes that saw her pull out of a string of public appearances, fueling fan fears for her wellbeing. 

Seaver fondly recalled joining Dolly on tour when he was a child in the 1980s, sharing that she 'opened doors not just for me but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible'. 

He characterized her as 'a farmer, just like her daddy; he farmed the soil, she farmed songs and happiness. Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life of wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest.'

In an interview published just four days before her death, Dolly had declared she still had 'so many things I want to achieve' and vowed to continue 'working as long as I can to see everything come to life', via People.

She explained that she had been grappling with 'some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl'.

The fourth of 12 children, Dolly was born in Pittman Center, Tennessee, on January 19, 1946. 

She and her siblings – Willadeene, David Wilburn, Coy Denver, Bobby Lee, Stella Mae, Cassie Nan, Randel Huston 'Randy', Larry Gerald, twins Estel Floyd and Freida Estelle, and Rachel Ann – were raised in the Great Smoky Mountains where they slept on beds made of straw and lived with no running water, gas or electricity.

Having developed a love of music at an early age, Dolly sang frequently on the local radio and made television appearances in East Tennessee as a child before releasing her first single, Puppy Love, at the age of 13.   

In 2008, Dolly told NPR that her 1973 song Jolene was partly inspired by a local bank teller who used to flirt with her late husband.

'She got this terrible crush on my husband,' she said at the time. 'And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. 

'It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying: "Hell, you're spending a lot of time at the bank. I don't believe we've got that kind of money."'

Years later, she told a crowd at the Glastonbury Festival of the song: 'I wrote that years ago when my husband… was spending a little more time with Jolene than I thought he should be.

'I put a stop to that. I got rid of that redhead woman in a hurry.'

Dolly's 1974 hit, I Will Always Love You, was written about the experience of cutting ties with her former business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner as she set her sights on pursuing a solo career.

The song reached the top spot of the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart: first in June 1974, then again in October 1982.

Dolly famously refused to let Elvis Presley record his own version after his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, demanded she sign over half of the publishing rights.

'I wouldn't let Colonel Tom Parker,' she recalled in an interview with BBC Radio 2 in 2023.

'See, Elvis loved the song. In fact, I talked to Priscilla not very long ago. She said: "You know, Elvis sang that song to me when we were walking down the courthouse steps when we got divorced."

'He loved the song, wanted to do it, had it worked up, they'd already called me to come down to the studio to meet him, and to be part and hear the song.

'And the night before, Colonel Tom Parker calls me and says: "Well, you know we don't record anything with Elvis unless we have publishing on it, or at least half the publishing."

'Well, I said, because I had a number one song on it, I said: "This is the most important copyright in my whole publishing company, and I can't do that."

She added that Parker said they couldn't do that, and the song fell apart, with Dolly adding she was, 'heartbroken' because she always wanted to hear Presley sing it.

She was vindicated in her determination to retain the rights when Whitney Houston recorded the song for her 1992 film The Bodyguard, whereupon it became a thunderous international hit that carried the soundtrack album to 18 times platinum.