Relationships

Dolly Parton opens up on marriage to rarely-seen husband of 52 years

Feb 10, 2019

Dolly Parton makes regular public appearances without her husband. Source: Getty.

They are rarely seen out together and he’s hardly been pictured with his famous wife at all in the last few decades, but Dolly Parton has now revealed she’s happier than ever with her husband of 52 years, Carl Thomas Dean.

Speaking about her marriage to Us Weekly as she was honoured as MusiCares Person of the Year in Los Angeles on Friday, Dolly, 73, revealed the secret to their success is partly forgiving each other.

“You gotta kinda respect and like each other and forgive a lot of stuff and accept a lot of things,” she told the news outlet. “Love each other and keep your vows.”

The pair, who wed in May 1966, have spent lengthy amounts of time apart over the years thanks to the singer’s busy schedule, but she also said that the distance has only worked to strengthen their relationship.

The 9 to 5 singer explained they are always excited whenever they see each other after some time apart, so there’s never been any strain on her when balancing her career with her marriage.

The couple first met when the singer was 18 and Carl was 21, before marrying two years later. While they were pictured a handful of times during the early years of their marriage, Carl has remained notoriously private ever since and is rarely seen in public with his wife.

While she doesn’t often speak about her husband, Dolly previously offered some of her 0wn advice following her five decades of happy marriage – again reiterating how important a bit of distance has been to her.

“Stay gone!” she told Vanity Fair at the time. “We’ve been married for 50 years and I’ve been gone for about 47 of those.

“But the truth is, we’ve always been very compatible. To those that follow the signs, I’m a Capricorn and he’s Cancer, and those are very compatible signs. But we’ve always had a good time together, and he’s got a great sense of humour and so do I.

“And he loves staying home and I love staying gone, so it’s worked out really well.”

Dolly also said her definition of love has changed over the years and insisted it’s grown deeper as time has gone by.