In the early days of her career, Dolly Parton likely spent more time with Porter Wagoner than she did with her husband, Carl Dean. She has described her husband as a homebody who rarely attended her shows, and she toured with Wagoner and performed on his television show. Because of the duets they sang together, some began to whisper that they were romantically involved. The rumors got back to Parton’s husband, but he didn’t seem fazed by them.

Dolly Parton said her husband didn’t seem concerned about rumors of her infidelity

The rumors of Parton’s involvement with Wagoner began after her marriage to Dean. She denied that there was any truth to the rumors.

“I have been married for a long time,” she said, per the book Dolly: The Biography by Alanna Nash, “and I figure that if there had been anything between me and Porter my husband would have been the first to know it, because you cannot deceive people.”

She said she used to worry that the people in her life would believe she was having an affair. Her concerns faded with time, though, particularly because Dean never seemed bothered.

“If they want to think I was livin’ with Porter, I’ve just come to the conclusion that they can think that,” she said. “Those stories never bothered Carl. We love each other. We always have; we always did.”

She emphasized her belief that she couldn’t have gotten away with years of infidelity without Dean knowing.

“You know yourself you couldn’t live with a person and love em and not know if there was somethin’ else, somebody else that was takin’ away from that,” she said, adding, “You can’t fake a feelin’. You can for awhile, but you couldn’t for seven years, you know. Like I say, it was straight between my husband and me. We always knew. Porter always knew.”

Dolly Parton’s family members warned her husband about her 

While Parton said the people she cared about never paid attention to the rumors of infidelity, some people in her family seemed concerned. She said that she even had relatives who warned Dean about her.

“Carl has had various people and even family members approach him to say I was having an affair with this or that person,” Parton wrote in her book Dolly. “Carl would simply say, ‘Well, I would think less of any man that didn’t fall in love with her.’ And he means it. He seems to have an understanding of how I am and how people are toward me. He seems to know that I’ll be back, and that love affairs and relationships are just part of my dealings with people.”

Those close to her never believed the rumors either

For the most part, though, the people around Parton didn’t ever believe she was having an affair with Wagoner.

“Oh, I don’t think anybody ever really believed that gossip,” her friend Bobby Denton said. “You know people start wild, vicious rumors, and the people who knew Dolly didn’t believe it. Any time two people travel together on the road, you’re gonna get talk. That’s the way it has always been.”

Another friend said that even if Wagoner had romantic feelings, Parton never did.

“I’m sure there’ll always be rumors about that,” her friend Charlene Bray said. “I don’t think they ever were [lovers]. I really don’t think there’s any truth to it. There may have been some want-to on Porter’s part, because she is gorgeous and desirable. That could have been the problem, too. Dolly, I think, wanted it to be strictly a professional relationship.”