If there is one person who knows the secret to marriage, it’s Dolly Parton. The country singer has been with her husband, Carl Dean, for 56 years.
Let me repeat that: 56 years! That’s a lot of fights about leaving the toilet seat up and reminding him to take out the garbage.
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And yet, these two make it work. Here’s how.
When it comes to Dolly Parton, there are a few things people know about her right-off-the-bat.
Things like how she’s one of the most legendary and accomplished musicians of all time .
Or how she’s managed to turn her brand into a theme park called Dollywood. How many people can say that? Not many, I’ll tell you that right now.
She’s also responsible for penning some of the world’s greatest love songs.
Did you know that “I Will Always Love You,” made famous by the late Whitney Houston was actually written and first performed by Dolly?
As a songwriting wizard, she actually wrote both “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” during the same night. Even “9 to 5” came when she was bored in her trailer on the set of 9 to 5 .
But there is one area of the singer’s life that people aren’t privy to (hint: it’s a big one!).
This is her 56-year marriage to Carl Dean.
When the pair first met outside of a laundry mat in Nashville in 1964, it was love at first sight.
“My first thought was I’m gonna marry that girl,” Dean shared when they renewed their vows at their 50th wedding anniversary celebration in 2016.
He did marry that girl. This took place two years later, when Parton was 20 and Dean was 23.
The pair decided to elope in Ringgold, Georgia, since her record label was worried that getting married would impact her budding country music career.
“My mother made me a little white dress and a little bouquet,” Parton told Country Music Television .
These days, fans don’t hear much about Dolly’s other half. So much so that some have questioned whether he even exists.
But now, in a new interview with Entertainment Tonight about her new book, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics , Dolly opened up about her and Dean’s decision to keep their relationship private.
“It’s just not who he is,” she began.
“He’s like, a quiet, reserved person and he figured if he ever got out there in that, he’d never get a minute’s peace and he’s right about that.”
She continued on, saying that she respects and appreciates his personality and, as such, has respected his wishes to stay out of the limelight.
To this, he even tells her the sweetest thing.
“He said, ‘I didn’t choose this world, I chose you, and you chose that world.”
Our heart! Dolly even joked to ET that part of the reason they’ve lasted this long is that she “stays 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 shared.
“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,” she continued.
She explained that some of the fun things they like to do together is travel around in their RV.
Since they both don’t like things like parties, their similar tastes make life fun.
Fans are bound to learn more about Carl in the singer’s upcoming memoir.
Like many stars, she’s releasing her book during the coronavirus pandemic. The star explained to ET why this felt like the perfect time to do so.
“I had to have something to do,” Parton said, referring to the lockdowns around the world. “Couldn’t get out in concert. Had to make a living somehow.”
“I let people have a glimpse into a lot of old photos, and my growing up in the business, a lot of family photos, and some of my early days as well,” Parton said of her new book.
That’s not all the Dolly fans are getting this year.
She also recently released her new Christmas album, “A Holly Dolly Christmas”.
“I’d always wanted to do another Christmas album, a solo album, and so this just seemed to be the right time,” she explained.
We’ll take as much Dolly as we can get during these hard times.
Be sure to check out Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics when it comes out Nov. 17 to learn more about the star.
