Dolly Parton’s reported $13million memoir could revisit a painful emotional attachment during her marriage to Carl Dean.
Publishing sources told RadarOnline the manuscript covers that period in detail, although the deal remains unconfirmed.
The singer died in August aged 80.
Dolly Parton memoir reportedly explores marriage heartbreak
The report names Grand Central Publishing as the publisher said to have won a bidding war.
It links the proposed autobiography to an emotional attachment Dolly previously discussed. However, the precise nature of that relationship remains unclear, and Dolly never publicly confirmed the man’s identity.
“Dolly spent so much of her life making people happy that it was easy to forget she experienced some extraordinarily painful moments behind the scenes. Her marriage to Carl was one of the main defining relationships of her life, but she previously spoke about an emotional attachment to another man that left her absolutely devastated,” a source claimed.
The source went on to say that it was a “deeply complicated” period of her life, and there are still “unanswered questions” over how it affected her marriage. Her memoir reportedly covers that chapter of her life in great detail and “could offer a very different perspective” on a woman the public thought they knew.
Dolly Parton and Carl Dean’s life away from the spotlight
“People often regarded Dolly and Carl’s marriage as this wonderful, enduring Hollywood love story, and in many ways it was. But Dolly did acknowledge she experienced an ‘affair of the heart’ during her marriage that caused tremendous emotional pain to her and Carl, at a time when she was already dealing with serious pressures in her career and personal life, and publishing sources who have seen her manuscript say it is a central part of the book,” the source said.
Dolly met Carl in 1964, two years before they married. He was a Nashville businessman who largely avoided the spotlight throughout her career.
Their relationship lasted until his death in March 2025. While Dolly’s working life played out publicly, Carl preferred to remain away from the cameras.
Dolly sometimes approached questions about their lasting marriage with humour. She joked that spending time apart helped their relationship endure.
After losing Carl, however, she shared a more poignant reflection on their bond. Dolly said she would never marry again, explaining that she believed he was waiting for her on the other side.
Her alleged heartbreak is believed to have coincided with difficulties surrounding her 1982 movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, alongside health issues and death threats that disrupted her touring schedule.
Read more: Dolly Parton’s niece reveals moment she realised her aunt had cancer
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