Dolly Parton had a cheeky two-word answer whenever anyone asked about the secret to her long marriage with her husband.
The country music legend died on 25 August at the age of 80. Her husband, Carl Dean, died in March 2025 at 82, after almost 60 years together.
Dolly later said she would never marry again, believing Carl was waiting for her on the other side.
Dolly Parton’s secret to long-lasting marriage to husband revealed
Speaking to People in 2018, Dolly gave her go-to answer with a laugh.
“I always joke and laugh when people ask me what’s the key to my long marriage and lasting love,” she said.
“I always say ‘Stay gone!’ and there’s a lot of truth to that, I travel a lot, but we really enjoy each other when we’re together and the little things we do.”
The singer often leaned on humour when discussing her private relationship.
In a 2022 interview with E! News, she added a lighter admission: “I like to dress up for Carl.” In 2011 she wrote of the union: “We’re really very proud of our marriage. It’s the first for both of us. And the last.”
Dolly Parton and Carl Dean’s Nashville love story
Dolly met Carl outside the Wishy Washy laundromat the day she arrived in Nashville at 18. He was 21 at the time.
“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” she once said of their first meeting.
“He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”
The pair eloped in 1966 and stayed together until Carl’s death last year. Their romance inspired several of Dolly’s songs, including her multimillion-selling 1973 hit Jolene.
Carl Dean’s life away from Dolly’s Fame
Dolly’s husband Carl ran an asphalt-paving business in Nashville and largely avoided the spotlight throughout his wife’s career.
“Carl has never been in the limelight and never wanted to be in it,” Dolly said in 2023. “He don’t like it.”
His absence from red carpets was so total that some fans doubted he was real. “They think I just made him up,” Dolly joked during a television interview in 2024.
Carl did have opinions on “Jolene,” though. Appearing on the BBC’s The One Show 50 years after the song’s release, Dolly explained his reaction.
“He was a little embarrassed when I wrote the song ‘Jolene’ because, actually, it wasn’t as serious [as it seems],” she said. “I was just jealous ’cause she was a beautiful woman and he was just flirting.”
Dolly’s final resting place alongside Carl Dean
Dolly will be laid to rest beside Carl in the mausoleum at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville, Tennessee.
At the time of Carl’s death, Dolly paid tribute to their decades together.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,” she said. “Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years.”
Read more: Dolly Parton’s estate reveals huge way how late icon will be honoured following shocking death
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