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Dolly Parton said she wasn’t confident in the beauty of her natural looks. She joked that her husband was a fool to love her as she was.
Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Dean, were married from 1966 until his death in 2025. Parton met Dean on her first day in Nashville, and they were together ever since. While Parton said they didn’t have a traditional marriage, they were happy together. Still, she joked that Dean was foolish to love her as she was.
Dolly Parton joked that her husband was a ‘fool’ to love her
Parton and Dean met outside a laundromat in Nashville. He was driving past when he saw her and knew immediately that he had to stop.
“My first thought was ‘I’m gonna marry that girl,’” Dean said, per Entertainment Tonight. “My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin.’ And that was the day my life began.”
Parton didn’t think as highly of her own appearance. She once said she couldn’t believe he loved her as she was.
“He doesn’t care if I’m fat,” she told Ladies Home Journal in 1984, per the book Dolly on Dolly. “He was never turned off. He’s fool enough to think I’m the sexiest, prettiest woman in the world.”
She didn’t think she was naturally beautiful
Parton’s bright makeup and wigs are an ever-present part of her look. She said she has wanted to look this way since she saw a woman in her hometown as a child. Still, the makeup and hair could be an effort to disguise her natural features. Parton has said that she doesn’t find herself to be naturally beautiful.
“I can laugh at myself because I’m not a pretty person,” she said. “I mean I don’t have all that natural beauty. But I’m like every other woman. I like to look as good as I can with what I’ve got to work with. I love to play in my make-up and I love hair-dos and clothes.”
For the most part, though, Parton just enjoys her over-the-top look.
“Can you imagine anybody wanting to look this way for real?” she said. “When people first get to know me, they say, ‘Why do you wear all of this?’ Then, after a week of knowing me, they totally understand. They know it’s just a bunch of baloney. But why not? Life’s boring enough, it makes you try to spice it up. I guess I just throw on a little too much spice.”
Parton’s styling choices have become an integral part of her public image.
Dolly Parton said she never wanted to leave her husband
For years, Parton has flirted with rumors of her affairs. She has been linked to a number of people over the years, including co-stars and musical collaborators. Despite this, she said she was very content in her marriage.
“He knows I ain’t going nowhere,” she said. “No matter who I met or what kind of affair I might ever have, ain’t nobody in this world could take Carl’s place. There ain’t no way in this world I’d ever lose this man.”
She said he never felt bothered by these rumors and was always happy to support her career from the sidelines.
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