Originally appeared on E! Online .

Dolly Parton knows what it’s like to always love those we’ve lost.

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Months after her husband Carl Thomas Dean's death, the music legend offered some advice to friends Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire as they mourn the late Brandon Blackstock , Clarkson's ex-husband and McEntire's stepson.

“I think you just have to be grateful for the years that you’ve had with someone,” Parton said during an interview with Entertainment Tonight , shared August 12. “And you just try to remember the very best of all that. And take their energy that they had given you then and kinda just recycle that and let that become a part of you.”

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