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See the full story · 3 sources24/7 Live New York City New Jersey Long Island Northern Suburbs Connecticut On The Red Carpet Dolly Parton and Carl Dean's best quotes about their decadeslong love story Parton and her husband Dean died less than two years apart.
Dolly Parton, the beloved country music superstar known as much for her philanthropy and theme park business as she was for her chart-topping hit songs, has died at 80. AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File The love story between the late Dolly Parton and her husband, the late Carl Dean , is one for the ages.
Parton and Dean died less than two years apart after spending nearly six decades together.
Parton's death at the age of 80 was announced Tuesday, just 17 months after the music legend announced Dean's death at the age of 82 on March 3, 2025.
The pair tied the knot in 1966, and never had kids. While Parton's career rose to astronomic heights, Dean remained her No. 1 fan, watching from afar, out of the spotlight of his mega-famous wife.
Throughout the years, Parton sung the praises of her husband and their relationship, whether it was recounting how they met, sharing insights into their marriage or revealing how he influenced her music.
Following his death last year, Parton took to social media to thank fans for their support, ending the message by writing, "He is God's arms now and I am okay with that. I will always love you."
Continue reading to see what Parton said over the years about Dean and their relationship.
Parton opened up about how she met Dean outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat the day she moved to Nashville when she was 18 while speaking with "GMA" co-anchor Robin Roberts in 2019.
"There was a laundromat down from my little apartment where I was gonna be staying. So, the very day I go down to the laundromat, this good-looking man just drives by and he says something like, 'Well, you're gonna get sunburned out here.' And I said something stupid like, 'Well, what's it to you?' We start talking and, two years later, we married and we're still married, and that was that."
Though he stayed out of his wife's spotlight and chose to live a private life, Dean shared his first impression of Parton in a rare statement in 2016 -- the year they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and renewed their vows.
"My first thought was, 'I'm gonna marry that girl.' My second thought was, 'Lord, she's good lookin','" he told Entertainment Tonight . "And that was the day my life began. I wouldn't trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth."
In an interview on Bunnie XO's "Dumb Blonde" podcast in 2024, Parton shared the one request Dean made early in their marriage.
"He loves music, but he is not the least bit interested in being in it, and he told me that right up front," Parton said.
The singer then recalled begging Dean to attend an awards show with her early in her career, saying, "I rented him a tux and you know, begged him to go and he did. And, oh, he was so uncomfortable. The whole night, 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 'cause I ain't going,'" Parton remembered.
Parton revealed to NPR in 2008 that her 1973 hit song "Jolene" was written about a bank teller who was flirting with Dean.
"She got this terrible crush on my husband," Parton said at the time. "And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us -- when I was saying, 'Hell, you're spending a lot of time at the bank. I don't believe we've got that kind of money.' So it's really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one."
Parton shared how she and Dean kept their decadeslong marriage alive in an interview with People in 2020.
"We still have our little times, like in the springtime when the first yellow daffodils come out. Even if there's still some snow around it, my husband always brings me a bouquet. And he'll usually write me a little poem," she said. "Which to me, that's priceless. That's like a date in itself."
For her part, Parton said she likes to "cook the stuff that I know we love, and I pack it up in a picnic basket, and then we'll go find some riverbank somewhere with our little camper, park, have a picnic."
Parton also revealed that the pair often kept things super casual and often ate on paper plates "because we don't want to have to wash dishes."
Speaking to "GMA" co-anchor Robin Roberts in 2023 ahead of the release of her first-ever rock album, Parton revealed that, in addition to being inspired to put the album out because of her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Dean also influenced her to dip her toe in the genre.
"From the time I met him in 1964, he just had rock 'n' roll blasting. That's his music. The louder, the better," she told Roberts.
"I grew up with him, you know, through the years with him of just hearing all that great music," Parton continued. "Of course I knew about rock before, in my early days -- Elvis and Jerry Lee and all of them -- but it was Carl that really made me make that final decision to think, 'You know what? I've got this great opportunity to do this, and I'm just gonna do it.'"
Parton's rock album featured 30 songs total -- nine original and 21 covers of iconic rock songs -- and she said she chose songs her husband "liked and loved."
"Most of these songs I chose because of Carl, and because I knew they were good songs, 'cause he knows good music," she said. "He does."
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