Dolly Parton reveals she leans on faith to cope with heartbreaking loss of husband Carl Dean

As Dolly Parton continues to navigate life without her partner of more than six decades, the country music icon is opening up about how her faith is helping her cope with the devastating loss.

Parton shared the news of her husband’s passing, at the age of 82, earlier this year.

“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,” Parton said in a statement on Monday, March 3.

As she navigates this painful new chapter, Parton says her faith is what’s helping her find strength and peace.

“I am a person of faith, and I truly believe that I’m going to see him again someday,” she recently told The Independent.

“And I see him every day in my memories and in my heart, and in all the things that we used to do and all the things that we’ve built together. You just kind of have to learn to kind of make new plans – but that’s the hardest part.”

Even as she grieves, Parton says she continues to feel her husband’s presence.

“I really feel his presence. I just try to go on, because I know I have to. And he was ill for quite a while, and part of me was at peace that he was at peace and not suffering anymore. But that still doesn’t make up for the loss and the loneliness of it,” she said.

Parton met her husband back in 1964 in a laundromat in Nashville when Parton had first moved into town, she was 18 and he was 21.

“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” Parton previously said of their first meeting.

“He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”

It was love at first sight for the pair who dated for two years before tying the knot.

During a previous appearance on the Dumb Blonde podcast, Parton offered a glimpse into what kept their bond thriving for so long.

“He’s quiet and I’m loud, and we’re funny. Oh, he’s hilarious. And I think one of the things that’s made it last so long through the years is that we love each other and we respect each other, but we have a lot of fun,” she said.

“Anytime there’s too much tension going on, either one of us can like, find a joke about it to really break the tension, where we don’t let it go so far.

“We never fought back and forth. And I’m glad now that we never did, because once you start that, that becomes a lifetime thing.

“I’ve seen it with so many people, and I thought, ‘I ain’t ever starting that.’ I couldn’t bear to think that he’d say something I couldn’t take … because I’m a very sensitive person toward other people and myself.”