Dolly Parton's Sister Freida Breaks Silence on Bryan Seaver Drama

The lawsuit, obtained by E! News, accused Seaver—who was previously tapped to announce his aunt's death last month on Instagram—of trying to extort money from her estate through an "obscene, deliberate, and escalating campaign of threats" before and after Dolly's death. (Dolly had often employed family members, including Seaver's dad Larry Seaver, who was previously her head of security.)

"They were deliberate threats from a self-proclaimed heavily armed, former security operative with a military-contractor background," the filing alleged. "Many of these people are now afraid to come to work or have resigned entirely because they do not feel safe."

In one instance, according to the court documents, Seaver sent a text message to Nozell six days before the "Jolene" singer's death, threatening to ruin Dollywood's relationship with a business partner. The message allegedly read, "I'm going to destroy the entire brand if you don't get these [Dollywood business partners] out of our bit."

In another message purportedly sent on Sept. 1, Seaver allegedly said he was going to "set up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly's brand partnerships," which Nozell said was meant to "inflict reputational and economic harm on all of those around Ms. Parton."

"It's going to be great," Seaver allegedly wrote to Nozell. "Or f--king pay me."

The filing also accused Seaver—who took over as security head more than 20 years ago—of using his self-proclaimed military contractor experience and access to weapons to extort her team into submitting to his demands.

Seaver, however, has denied threatening anyone from Dolly's estate, asserting that his messages were being twisted.

"This is a contrived out-of-context explanation of how this went down, and it is being done in an effort to solidify me as some sort of opposition to her brand in her legacy," he told The New York Times in a Sept. 23 text message, "and that is not the case."

E! News had reached out to Seaver for additional comment and had not yet heard back.

As the Parton family navigates this difficult chapter following the legendary singer's death, keep reading for a look back at her life in photos.