Dolly Parton is one of the most beloved stars on the planet. As a singer, actress and philanthropist, she looms larger than life; as a wife, she kept a veil of privacy over her marriage to late husband Carl Dean, who died in March 2025 at the age of 82.
Parton and Dean tied the knot in 1966, just as her music career was getting off the ground. While she soared to fame, making her mark in both Nashville and Hollywood, Dean managed to stay out of the public eye. Their union stood the test of time, perhaps because she was famous and he was not, making for an easy, yin-yang balance.
“We’re the perfect partners,” Parton exclusively told Us Weekly in January 2022. “We both have a great sense of humor. … We’re able to solve any problem and any situation, making a joke about it and not letting it get too heavy, but we respect each other and we like each other. We lucked up, let’s put it that way.”
She continued: “You know, most people can keep a marriage [going strong] if you make a little effort. Some people just get slouching and lazy and about stuff that ain’t important, like leaving the toilet seat up. And if that’s the worst thing you’ve to worry about, you’re already in trouble.”
Here’s everything Parton has said about her late husband over the years:
Why Dean Stayed Out of the Spotlight
The “Jolene” singer addressed Dean’s aversion to the limelight in a 2020 interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“A lot of people have thought that [he doesn’t exist] through the years, because he does not want to be in the spotlight at all,” Parton told the outlet. “It’s just not who he is. He’s, like, a quiet, reserved person.”
She explained at the time that Dean “figured if he ever got out there in that, he’d never get a minute’s peace, and he’s right about that,” adding that she’s “always respected and appreciated” that side of him and has honored his wish for privacy.
“He said, ‘I didn’t choose this world, I chose you, and you chose that world. But we can keep our lives separate and together.’ And we do and we have,” Parton said. “We’ve been together 56 years, married 54.”
Parton and Dean Had a Shared Sense of Humor
“When people ask me why it’s lasted this long, I say, ‘Because I stay gone.’ And there’s a lot of truth in that — the fact that we’re not in each other’s faces all the time,” Parton explained in 2020. “But we do have a great respect and admiration for each other. We both have a great sense of humor. So, we have a lot of fun.”
Despite their different comfort levels with fame, the Steel Magnolias star has said that she and Dean traveled well together.
“We have very similar tastes,” she said. “We love to travel around our little RV, and we don’t like parties and all that stuff.”
Parton and Dean Rarely Bickered Throughout Their 60-year Marriage
“Any time [there is] too much tension going on, either one of us can, like, find a joke about it to really break the tension, where we don’t let it go so far,” Parton told the “Dumb Blonde” podcast in December 2024. “We never fought back and forth — and I’m glad we never did.”
Parton and Dean Had Compatible Zodiac Signs
According to Parton, she and Dean were astrologically matched.
“Well, he was a homebody, and that worked well for us,” she said in her “Dumb Blonde” interview. “He was in asphalt paving, but his sign is Cancer and I’m Capricorn, and those are compatible signs. The Capricorn is the mountain goat because it’s always climbing and the Cancer is more of a homebody. He really was. He wanted to be around home. I loved to go and see what else is out there, but I think that’s worked well for us.”
How They Met
The couple met outside a Nashville Wishy Washy laundromat in 1964.
“I left two boyfriends that had wanted to marry me and kept saying, ‘No, I’m gonna move to Nashville,’” Parton said in 2024, the year they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. “I thought, ‘The last thing I want is a boyfriend,’ and so, I got here … the very day I got to Nashville, I met Carl Dean. And 60 years later, I’m still with Carl Dean!”
When Dean set eyes on Parton, “My first thought was I’m gonna marry that girl,” he revealed in a statement on their 50th anniversary in 2016. “My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin.’’ And that was the day my life began. I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.”
As for Dolly, “I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me). He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”
Dean’s Distaste for Industry Events
Parton once “begged” Dean to attend her 1967 BMI Song of the Year award ceremony.
“I rented him a tux and begged him to go and, oh, he was so uncomfortable the whole night,” she recalled to “Dumb Blonde” host Bunnie Xo. “As soon as we hit the door, he started pulling off stuff. He said, ‘Look, now, I want you to do everything you want to do and I wish you the best, but don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain’t going.’ And he never did!”
Despite his distaste for attending industry events, Dean would go on to celebrate the couple’s personal milestones — away from Parton’s devoted fanbase.
“He doesn’t even like to go out to dinner, so even on anniversaries we usually stay home and make something special,” she reminisced two months before Dean’s death. “Now, we will go to Mexican restaurants and sit in a booth. He loves that! We’ll go sit in a booth … we know where to go before the big crowds come, but he’s just special to me.”
How They Felt About Not Having Children
Parton and Dean never become parents — something neither seemed to regret.
“Now that Carl and I are older, we often say, ‘Aren’t you glad we didn’t have kids?’ Now we don’t have kids to worry about,” Parton told Billboard in 2014.
They Kept The Romance Alive
The “Here You Come Again” songstress celebrated Valentine’s Day with Dean by wearing “some little fun” outfit and showering Dean in presents.
“I always wear some heart-shaped something and I always get him several Valentine’s cards,” Parton revealed to Us Weekly in 2022. “You know, cause when you start looking for cards, you find so many and you want ’em all.”
At the time, she filled Us in on her secret to maintaining the spark with her spouse.
“You find little ways,” said Parton, who was then 76 years old. “Like last year on his birthday, I dressed up in my Playboy bunny suit, made him breakfast and [ran] around in that for a little while.”
The Couple That Cooks Together, Stays Together
“I’m the better cook, but [Carl] actually can cook pretty good,” Parton told Us, adding that “every once in a while” she’d let her husband lend a hand in the kitchen. “I’ve been gone so much [that] he had to [learn to] cook, but he actually does pretty good. He knows how to cook the things he likes, but he loves my cooking better.”
