Alert – Inside Dolly Parton’s intensely private marriage to husband Carl Dean and the real reason they never had kids

Dolly Parton announced the tragic news on Monday that her longtime husband Carl Thomas Dean had died at the age of 82.

In a statement posted to Instagram, the legendary country songstress — who never had any children with her late husband — revealed that he had died earlier on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dolly wrote that she and Carl had ‘spent many wonderful years together,’ and the two had been happily married for nearly 60 years.

However, their union has been a complete mystery even to many of the 79-year-old singer’s biggest fans, who have long been puzzled about why the two never expanded their family.

Although Dolly has been known for years for her bubbly personality and forays beyond music into acting, her husband tended to operate behind the scenes, leaving her to be the public face for the couple.

Now, DailyMail.com takes a look inside Dolly and Carl’s intensely private marriage. 

DailyMail.com takes a look inside Dolly Parton’s intensely private marriage to her late husband Carl Thomas Dean after his death at 82

Dolly revealed in a statement on Monday that her husband Carl, whom she had been married to for nearly 60 years, had died earlier in the day in Nashville

Dolly and Carl’s meet-cute in Nashville

The 9 To 5 singer first met her future husband in a place most wouldn’t peg as a hotbed of romance — the laundromat.

But both Dolly and Carl described the fateful meeting in 1964 as love at first sight in later interviews.

‘I’d come to Nashville with dirty clothes,’ she told the New York Times. ‘I was in such a hurry to get here — and after I’d put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin’ down the street, just lookin’ at my new home, and this guy hollered at me, and I waved. Bein’ from the country, I spoke to everybody.’

Dolly said she had a feeling that the mystery man approaching her would become a major figure in her life. 

‘He came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband,’ she declared.

When the couple renewed their wedding vows for their 50th anniversary in 2016, Carl made it clear that he was just as entranced by Dolly when they met. 

‘My first thought was I’m gonna marry that girl,’ he told Entertainment Tonight. ‘My second thought was, “Lord she’s good lookin.'” And that was the day my life began.’

Dolly and Carl began dating the same year, but it was difficult to find time together, as she was living with her aunt and uncle and didn’t want to bring him in the house while she was baby sitting her young cousin. 

One day when she wasn’t on babysitting duty, she went over to Carl’s house to spend time with him

‘That was my first chance to go anywhere with Carl, and he drove me straight to his folks’ house and introduced me to his mother and daddy,’ she told the New York Times in 1976. ”Cause he said he knew right the minute he saw me that that’s the one he wanted.’

Dolly and Carl both described a laundromat meet-cute in 1964 that was love at first sight. They began dating that year, and he proposed in 1966

The happy couple were married later that year in a private ceremony at a Baptist church with just the pastor, his wife and Dolly’s mother attending. She opted for a small ceremony after her manager warned her that marriage could harm her career

Carl and Dolly get married

Around two years after they started dating, Carl proposed to Dolly.

Although she was over the moon, the songstress later recalled that her manager at the time thought being engaged, and then married, could harm her career at that early stage.

She decided against a large wedding because of his warning, but she and Carl were still determined to get married, so they opted to tie the knot with just the pastor of Ringgold Baptist Church in Ringgold, Georgia, officiating.

The only witnesses to the low-key ceremony on May 30, 1966, were the pastor’s wife and Dolly’s mother, Avie Lee Owens, she told Local 3 News in Tennessee in 2012. 

‘I had bought a little dress, momma had bought me a Bible, some flowers on it. We grabbed momma and went back, and got married on a Monday, in a church,’ she recounted.

The nuptials were so small scale that Dolly and Carl didn’t even have time to celebrate, as she said they both had to go back to work the following day.

‘We took momma back to the bus station in Chattanooga so she could ride on back to Knoxville,’ she shared. ‘So she wouldn’t be on our so-called honeymoon, which was a few hours and we both had to go back to work the next morning.’

In 2015, Dolly told People that part of the secret to their enduring love was that she and Carl were pleasantly different from each other. 

‘They say that opposites attract, and it’s true,’ she explained. ‘We’re completely opposite, but that’s what makes it fun. I never know what he’s gonna say or do. He’s always surprising me.’

She later shed more light on why her husband avoided the spotlight, which he ‘never wanted to be in,’ in a 2023 episode of What Would Dolly Do? Radio on Apple Music.  

‘He went to one thing with me early on, when we first married, to a BMI Song of the Year [event], and he came out of there taking off his tuxedo, his tie and all that and said, “Don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain’t going.” I never asked him and he never did,’ she recalled.

Dolly had one of her biggest successes in 1973 with her song Jolene, inspired by a bank teller’s flirtations with Carl. But several years into her career the couple hadn’t welcomed any children

Dolly releases her most famous song after foregoing children 

Dolly was already a star of country music in 1973, but she elevated her profile considerably with the release of her hit single Jolene.

The song, which Beyoncé recently performed with rewritten lyrics on her Cowboy Carter album, was inspired by a bank teller that Parton came to think was flirting a bit too heavily with her husband.

‘She got this terrible crush on my husband,’ the singer told NPR in 2008. ‘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,”‘ she joked. ‘So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.’

Despite the somber, pleading tone of the classic song, Dolly later claimed to the crowd at the Glastonbury Festival in 2014 that she ‘put a stop to’ the woman’s flirtations with her husband. 

Despite achieving more success than she ever imagined, Dolly and Carl had had no children seven years into their marriage — and they never would.

While speaking to Saga Magazine in 2023, the performer shed some light on why she and Carl kept their family as a duo. 

‘When you’re a young couple, you think you’re going to have kids, but it just wasn’t one of those burning things for me,’ she explained. ‘I had my career and my music and I was traveling. If I’d had kids, I’d have stayed at home with them. I’m sure and worried myself to death about them.’

Later, she felt vindicated by her decision, as she would ‘hate to be bringing a child into this world right now’ due to ‘everything that’s going on.’ 

However, in 2014 she told Billboard that she and Carl weren’t opposed to having children, and admitted they even had names picked out if they ended up having any. 

The same year, she told People: ‘I often think, it just wasn’t meant for me to have kids so everybody’s kids can be mine.’ 

Back in 1977, she also told the publication that for her cover story that she wouldn’t want to have children if it meant ‘leav[ing] them for somebody else to raise while I have a career.’

But Dolly admitted in her 1994 autobiography that she had an ‘affair of the hear’ with her bandleader Gregg Perry in the early ’80s, before he quit her band while work on the soundtrack for 1982’s The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas; seen in 2014

Dolly’s behind-the-scenes love joins her as her career skyrockets — but affair rumors swirl

Carl had such a minimal presence throughout Dolly’s career that it was news when he opted to join her in public.

In 1979, Cosmopolitan reported that Dolly’s bandleader Gregg Perry had thrown a double surprise party, with one of the guests of honor being Carl.

Perry mused that Dolly’s husband ‘never goes with us, but this week he’s made a real exception’ since it was his birthday.

A year later, Carl made his presence felt again when he joined his love on a two-month trip to Los Angeles while she filmed her hit workplace comedy 9 To 5, which she starred in with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.

Dolly’s husband made more of a public show of his affection around that period just as his wife was hit by rumors of an affair, which she denied.

In her first book, the 1994 autobiography My Life And Other Unfinished Business, the I Will Always Love You singer admitted to having an ‘affair of the heart’ with Perry, though she stressed that it never became physical.

‘Gregg and I became very close … I had never spent so much time with such a well-educated and knowledgeable man,’ she wrote, via People. ‘I let myself get completely wrapped up in him.’

Touring brought the two together, but things went south by 1982 when they were collaborating on the soundtrack for her 1982 film The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. 

According to Dolly, the stresses of the film meant that it ‘was not a fun project for anyone involved,’ and it led Perry to leave her band. 

‘He told me he couldn’t take the pressure and the B.S. of the business anymore,’ she wrote. ‘The joy had gone out of it for him and I’m sure that I was no picnic to live with at that time … I was crushed when he left … It just about killed me. I cried an ocean.’

In 1982, Parton shut down rumors of an affair while speaking to People.

She clarified that her husband ‘was the man God intended for me to have.’

‘We’ll just always be together … To him it’s all a joke. There ain’t a man in this world could ever live up to my husband,’ she shared. ‘That’s one of the things that keeps me from going too far.’

In 2002, Parton covered one of her husband’s favorite songs: Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven. A decade later, she wrote the Joyful Noise soundtrack selection From Here To The Moon And Back about their romance; seen in 2019 in LA

Dolly’s songs of love

Carl was partly the subject of one of Dolly’s most famous songs, Jolene, a song about a woman angling to steal her man.

But in their later years, Dolly also wrote and recorded more traditional tributes to her longtime love.

Although she had recorded earlier songs as tributes to him, including Tomorrow Is Forever and Say Forever You’ll Be Mine (both recorded as duets with Porter Wagoner), she recorded a burst of new Carl-inspired songs in the 2000s and 2010s.

In 2002, she took a departure from her usual pop-inflected country style to release a cover version of her husband’s favorite song: Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven.

The song, included on her album Halos & Horns, was more country and bluegrass than hard rock after she got her hands on it, but she returned to the song on 2023’s Rockstar, which was also a tribute to her husband and his love of rock music.

That time around, she recorded a more faithful, rocking version with an assist from Lizzo.

‘My husband has such an odd taste in music, and he loves Led Zeppelin,’ Dolly explained in a promotional interview from 2002. ‘He’s been a “Led Head” from day one and also loves bluegrass and big-band music.   

‘Stairway to Heaven was always Carl’s favorite. It was kind of like “our song” because at romantic times or sweet times, we’d just be riding around in the car and if that would come on, Lord, he’d just knock us out of the car turning it up full blast,’ she said.

Then, in 2012, she paid a more direct tribute to her husband by recording the love song From Here To The Moon And Back for her film Joyful Noise.

In the film, which also features Keke Palmer, Dolly’s character performs the song for her husband, played by her real-life friend and occasional collaborator Kris Kristofferson.

Dolly later rerecorded the song as a duet with another longtime friend, Willy Nelson, for her 2014 album Blue Smoke.

‘I thought in order to make it really real and really touching, I would write it about my real, true emotions about someone I really do love and have loved for more than half of my life,’ she told The Boot.

Dolly also confirmed to Rolling Stone in 2016 that her song Say Forever You’ll Be Mine, released the same year, was also inspired by her husband, as were several of the other songs on her album Pure And Simple.

In 2016, Dolly and Carl renewed their vows at their home in Nashville to mark their 50th wedding anniversary; pictured in a photo edited by Parton in 2021

Dolly and Carl renew their vows for their 50th anniversary — and finally take their honeymoon

On May 30, 2016, Dolly and Carl renewed their vows at their home in Nashville to mark their 50th wedding anniversary. 

‘I got all dressed up in the most beautiful gown you’ve ever seen and dressed that husband of mine up. He looked like a handsome dude out of Hollywood,’ she told Rolling Stone in 2016. ‘We had a few family and friends around. We didn’t plan anything big at all because we didn’t want any kind of strain, any kind of tension, any kind of commotion, so we planned it cleverly and carefully. 

‘We just had a simple little ceremony at our chapel at our place,’ she shared. ‘We just had just a few people who needed to be there to make sure they got the pictures and the few things that we needed. We just had fun with it.’

Dolly later revealed that she and Carl were getting their second chance at a honeymoon with a long RV trip, which had long been a favorite way for them to travel without too much commotion. 

Dolly famously posed in a busty black dress and bunny ears for a classic 1978 Playboy cover, and she decided to recreate the iconic image as a treat for Carl on his birthday in 2021

The hitmaker highlighted her age-defying figure in a similar black dress, though this one had a slightly more conservative fishnet mesh covering her chest

‘My husband always loved the original cover, so I was trying to think of something to do to make him happy,’ she said in her Instagram video. ‘He still thinks I’m a hot chick, after 57 years, and I’m not gonna try to talk him out of that. And I hope he agrees’

Dolly puts on a spicy show by recreating Playboy cover for Carl’s birthday

Dolly famously posed in a busty black dress and bunny ears for a classic 1978 Playboy cover, and she decided to recreate the iconic image as a treat for Carl on his birthday in 2021.

The hitmaker highlighted her age-defying figure in a similar black dress, though this one had a slightly more conservative fishnet mesh covering her chest.

‘Today is July 20, it’s my husband Carl’s birthday,’ she said in a video posted to Instagram showing her revealing the results of her new photoshoot alongside the original cover image. 

‘My husband always loved the original cover, so I was trying to think of something to do to make him happy,’ she said. ‘He still thinks I’m a hot chick, after 57 years, and I’m not gonna try to talk him out of that. And I hope he agrees.’

She also joked about how her figure had changed after more than 40 years.

‘In the first one, I was kind of a little butterball,’ she joked. ‘Well, I’m string cheese now. But he’ll probably think I’m cream cheese, I hope.’

Dolly shared the somber news on Monday, March 3 — just a few weeks shy of her 59th wedding anniversary — that her husband Carl had died at 82

In her heartbreaking tribute, Dolly reflected on the ‘many wonderful years’ the pair spent together 

Dolly says goodbye to her love of more than 60 years

Dolly shared the somber news on Monday, March 3 — just a few weeks shy of her 59th wedding anniversary — that her husband Carl had died at 82.

In her heartbreaking tribute, Dolly reflected on the ‘many wonderful years’ the pair spent together. 

‘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,’ Dolly wrote. 

In addition to his longtime wife, Dean is survived by his siblings, Sandra and Donnie.

Parton’s statement indicated that her late husband would be laid to rest in a private ceremony attended only by their immediate family.