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Dolly Parton and her husband were very different. Still, she said they were a perfect fit, with many of his qualities appealing to her.
Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Dean, were married for nearly 60 years. They married in the early days of her career and remained together until his death in 2025. While Dean remained entirely out of the public eye, Parton said they fit well together. She revealed the qualities that made her want a relationship with him.
Dolly Parton shared the qualities that made her like her husband
Parton and Dean met outside a laundromat on her first day in Nashville. She found him good-looking, but his other qualities made her realize they could have a solid relationship.
“[I love] his honesty. His decency. His earthiness,” she told Playboy in 1978, per the book Dolly on Dolly. “I like the way he loves me. His understanding of me and the things I do. The way he lets me be free. And lets me be me. He don’t try to choke me and demand anything from me.”
Before their wedding, Parton told Dean that their relationship could not get in the way of her career. He wholeheartedly agreed to support her, even if he didn’t want the spotlight. Dean was such a reliable partner that she never wanted to leave the relationship.
“He knows I ain’t goin’ nowhere. No matter who I met or what kind of an affair I might ever have, ain’t nobody in this world could take Carl’s place,” she said. “There ain’t no way in this world I’d ever lose this man.”
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