Dolly Parton Reveals The Secret To Her Over Five Decade-Long Marriage To Carl Dean

Truly, Truly, absence makes the heart grow fonder just ask Dolly Parton and she’ll tell you. In an exclusive interview with E! News’ Keltie Knight and Justin Sylvester, the “Jolene” singer shared the secret to her successful marriage to her husband Carl Dean.

Over the years, lots of Parton’s fans have been dying to see who the country singer has been sharing her forever with but haven’t had much luck, and that’s because Dean is a very private person who prefers to live out of the spotlight.

The couple tied the knot on May 30, 1966, and since then till date, they’ve been going stronger. It’s been 57 years and counting yet there has never been any news or scandal about their union.

Speaking with Knight and Sylvester at Dollywood’s new “The Dolly Parton Experience” in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the “9 To 5” singer revealed that one of her secrets is being scarce. “I’m just saying, anything new gets old,” adding, “And I think if you just kind of stay together so much, you just nitpick every little thing and notice all that.”

She continued, “It’s worked for us because we both do different things and it’s exciting when we are together. So the fact that there’s some little space that makes it exciting when you go home.”

Parton already shared this in her 2018 interview with people, “I always joke and laugh when people ask me what’s the key to my long marriage and lasting love. I always say ‘Stay gone!’ and there’s a lot of truth to that. I travel a lot, but we really enjoy each other when we’re together and the little things we do.”

Dolly Parton — On The Days Parton And Dean Spend Time Together

Just as she said, she always made herself scarce. However, the “Coat Of Many Colors” hitmaker shared how she and her husband spend their time during her days off from traveling the world, making music, and touring. “We just enjoy each other,” the music legend explained.

She continued, “I like to cook. And one of the things that we like to do—not necessarily a date night, we have a lot of date days—we have our little RV and we like to travel around. Going down and get some food or I’ll make a picnic and we go down to the river and have a picnic and just kind of ride around and do our little things.”

General Hospital Spoilers: Finn & Alexis’s Wild & Drunken Night – Both Relapse After Gregory’s Funeral?

View Story

During a 2014 interview with “Billboard,” Parton told the outlet, “I love to read. I love to cook. I love hanging out with my husband, riding around in our little RV. Even when I get off the road after traveling thousands of miles, I’ll say, ‘Get the camper; let’s go somewhere.’ He’ll say, ‘Are you kidding? Ain’t you tired of riding?’ ‘No, I’m a gypsy. I want to do that.’ My life is fairly simple when I’m out of the limelight.”

The 78-year-old also said that the second secret to her successful marriage with Dean, 81, is boundaries. She went on to tell the story of how she took Dean with her to a BMI Song of the Year event after they newly got married and on their return, Dean begged her never to invite him to such gatherings again.

“He went to one thing with me early on when we first married to a BMI Song of the Year, and he came out there taking off his tuxedo, his tie, and all that, and said, ‘Don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain’t going,'” she remembered. “I never asked him and he never did.” And that was how Dean kept his private life intact.

Be sure to catch up on everything happening with Dolly Parton right now. Come back here often for all the Dolly Parton’s spoilers, news, and updates.

Dolly Parton