She certainly married the right one.
Yesterday, Dolly Parton sadly announced that her husband of nearly 59 years Carl Dean passed away in Nashville at the age of 82. The pair first met at the Wishy Washy laundromat in Nashville during one of her first weekends in town after moving there to pursue a music career. He saw her walking down the street, pulled over to ask her out, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The sad news about Carl’s passing was released via Dolly’s social media with the following statement:
“Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82. He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He was survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie.
‘Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.’ The family has asked for privacy during this difficult time.”
Carl intentionally stayed out of the spotlight throughout her illustrious career, and he was largely a mystery to the public. Until he retired, Dolly says he owned an asphalt paving company, but beyond that, little was known about them, and there are few pictures of them together online, and they’re all decades old at this point.
I think his disinterest in the “fame” aspect of her career is probably a big part of how they made it work, and during a recent episode of Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast, Dolly recalled meeting Carl and how she was set on having no boyfriends once she got to Music City, because she wanted to focus on her career (and she was leaving two back home).
I find it easy to forget that Dolly is a mere mortal like the rest of us, so I loved hearing about their occasional Saturday dates at the local Mexican restaurant:
“The last thing I want is a boyfriend, because I’m leaving two boyfriends here. And I kept saying, no, I’m going to Nashville. And the very day I got to Nashville, I met Carl Dean, and 60 years later, I’m still with Carl Dean. You know, he’s quiet and I’m loud, we’re funny, oh, he’s hilarious. and I think one of the tings that’s made it last so long through the years, we love each other, we respect each other, but we have a lot of fun and we never fought back and forth. He was a homebody, and that worked well for us.
He loved to go places, if we were gonna drive across country or go if we had a planned thing, but boy, he never could wait to get home. He doesn’t even like to go out to big dinners or anything like that, so even on anniversaries and stuff like that, we usually stay home and make something special, or go to McDonald’s or go somewhere we want to go that’s comfortable.
We will go to Mexican restaurants, sit in a booth and do that. He loves that. We’ll go sit in a booth, like if it’s an anniversary. Or sometimes on a Saturday, we know where to go before the crowd comes, he doesn’t like big crowds. He’s just special to me and I just love him like he is.”
But one of my favorite interviews I’ve seen with Dolly comes from E! News not long ago, where she spoke about how much it meant to her that Carl viewed her as the person she really was on the inside, not the big, gorgeous star that the public always saw her as, and that she obviously was.
She explained that he fell in love with her before she was a star, and still thinks of her that way, as “his star.” He never cared one bit about her fame, and while obviously he was proud of her accomplishments and iconic career, to him, she was the Dolly he fell in love with 60 years ago in terms of being a real, regular person:
“To have, you know, someone there in your corner and you know they love you for just who you are, not what you do, not what other people think you are, and they know you know for who you are, there’s a great comfort in that. Knowing that someone loves you exactly for who you are, because he fell in love with me before I became a star.
Somebody said ‘Oh, you know, how do you know how do you feel about being married to a star?’ He said, ‘I didn’t know I was.’ To him, I’m his star, but he doesn’t relate to any of that. He doesn’t care about that. Well, he’s proud of me, I don’t mean that, but that’s not how he sees me, not how the public sees me.”
While we understandably don’t know much about their relationship, they seemingly had an incredibly strong marriage and once in a lifetime love. It had to be refreshing that even though she was a mega star, icon and beloved public figure, she could still be just “Dolly” with Carl, and he loved her for who she truly was. I can only imagine what she’s going through now, and my thoughts and prayers are with Dolly and their entire family as they grieve this significant loss.
I think one of the top comments on the TikTok below summed it up very well:
“She married the right man. He allowed her to pursue her gift and share it with the world, all while maintaining their privacy. Rare gems, both of them.”
It’s heartbreaking that it’s over, but goodness… what a special love they had.
@enews“To him, I’m his star.” 🥹 We’re honoring Dolly Parton’s husband, Carl Dean’s passing with this look back on their relationship.♬ original sound – E! News
More of the episode with Bunnie:
