Key Points
- Dolly Parton’s security tackled an A-list actor, mistaking him for a threat at a conference.
- Parton laughed, saying, “Bryan, let him go! That’s Kevin Costner!”
- The singer highlighted the irony as Costner played a bodyguard in The Bodyguard, featuring Parton’s song.
Country music icon Dolly Parton pulled back the curtain on an unexpected encounter with a Hollywood superstar — an encounter that ended with the A-lister being pinned against a wall by Parton’s security. The moment unfolded years ago, while Parton was attending a conference. In Parton’s new memoir, Star of the Show: My Life on Stage, the star recalls her dedicated security guard, Bryan Seaver, and the devotion he shows to his job, setting the scene for an immediate and physical misunderstanding.
Parton describes the protective nature of her security detail, reports The Independent: “Here’s how much Bryan takes care of me,” writes Parton. “In the first few years he worked with me, he accompanied me to a conference at the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza. We were walking down a hallway when the door to one of the rooms opened.”
Pinning a Hollywood Star Against the Wall
The action started quickly when actor Kevin Costner, dressed casually with scruffy facial hair, emerged and rushed toward the legendary singer. Parton describes the immediate chaos as her bodyguard acted instantly to neutralize what he perceived as a threat.
“A guy with scruffy facial hair and blue jeans walked out, took one look at me, and rushed my way!” Parton writes. “Bryan jumped in his path, pushed him up against the wall, and held him there by his chest and his throat.”
The tension in the hallway was broken not by a struggle, but by Parton’s sudden laughter. Realizing Seaver had just tackled one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men, she quickly intervened: “I started laughing. ‘Bryan, let him go! That’s Kevin Costner!’”
The star power of the situation did nothing to faze the dedicated security guard, who had the final, firm word. Parton recalls, “Bryan relaxed, but he didn’t let Kevin off the hook. ‘You should know better,’ Bryan told him. ‘You’re the bodyguard.’”
The Famous Irony of The Bodyguard Showdown
This encounter is memorable because of the incredible irony that surrounds the two men involved, providing the ultimate context for the sudden scuffle. Costner famously played a security guard for Whitney Houston’s character in the iconic 1992 film The Bodyguard. That movie, of course, prominently featured Houston’s rendition of Parton’s own song, “I Will Always Love You.” The humor stems entirely from the complete role reversal—Costner, who acted as the protector on screen, was now being detained by the man who was Dolly’s bodyguard in real life. The swiftness of Seaver’s action, believing the movie star was a threat, is the perfect culmination of the Nashville-meets-Hollywood collision.
Parton concludes, capturing the spirit of the moment: “He was right, of course. Kevin had played a security guard for Whitney Houston’s character in the movie that featured her singing ‘I Will Always Love You,’ and here was my security guard pinning him against a wall, thinking he was a threat. You can’t make up that kind of thing!”
