Dolly Parton on why her and late husband Carl Dean 'Were so good for each other'
In a rare moment, Dolly Parton opened up about her relationship to husband Carl Dean and about why they worked so well together.
The 79-year-old country music legend was married to Carl Dean for 58 years before his death at 82 in March 2025.
“We were different people. He loved music, but he was a loaner. He did not want a bunch of people around him except me. Of course he had friends, but he was also the same way. He’d rather be at the barn, be on the farm all day, and if he was gonna go sell a loader or buy a loader or have somebody come work on one of his trucks or tractors, he’d have to let people in,” she tells Khloe Kardashian on her podcast “Khloe in Wonderland.”
The “Jolene” singer/songwriter continues, “But I really think that there’s just certain personalities that are great for each other. And we were together 61 years. We were just so different but were so similar. We didn’t fight over that ‘cause we both were comfortable about, and we just got along great.”
“I don’t know if any of you follow the signs, the Zodiac signs,” she tells “The Kardashians” star. "I’m Capricorn, and [he's a] Cancer, and those are supposed to be compatible. But he was a homebody. Never did an interview in his life. He’d be out mowing the yard on the tractor, and the fans would come by to see our house, and they’d say, ‘Are you Dolly Parton’s husband?’ And he’d say, ‘Do I look like I’d be Dolly Parton's husband?’ He’d have on his old straw hat and his coat," she said.
"I didn’t ever expose him to that. But he was very proud of me. We got along great because we didn’t have nothing to fight over."
"That was the thing with us, we were so good for each other because he’s a total loner. But we could just be in the house all day and say two or three words — didn’t matter. Or we could talk all afternoon and lay in bed, talk at night in the dark."
As we previously reported, Dolly won’t be releasing any new music in the near future because of her broken heart.
