Dolly Parton had plenty of jokes about love, but her decades-long romance with Carl Dean was no laughing matter.
The country music legend died at 80 on August 25, 2026, more than a year after her husband of nearly 60 years died in March 2025.
Their relationship, however, was one Parton never took for granted — even when she joked about it.
In her first People magazine profile in 1975, the then-29-year-old star opened up about growing up in Tennessee as one of 12 children before becoming a Nashville sensation.
She had graduated high school and moved to Nashville that same night, where she met Dean at a laundromat just two days later.
Looking back on their romance, Parton offered a very Dolly-style punchline.
“And it’s been wishy-washy ever since,” Parton joked to the outlet.
The couple married in May 1966, and while Dean preferred a private life away from the spotlight, he supported Parton’s career from behind the scenes.
Years later, Parton revealed her unconventional secret to staying together.
“I always joke and laugh when people ask me what’s the key to my long marriage and lasting love,” Parton shared in 2018. “I always say ‘Stay gone!’ and there’s a lot of truth to that. I travel a lot, but we really enjoy each other when we’re together and the little things we do.”
After Dean died on March 3, 2025, Parton remembered him as the love of her life. “Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years.”
She later honored him with the song “If You Hadn’t Been There.”
Parton’s death was announced by her nephew Bryan Seaver on August 25. “But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly. Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents and countless others who have watched her and longed to meet her in the heavens.”
