Yahoo Lifestyle Dolly Parton Opens Up About Her Marriage to Carl Dean in Rare Interview
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Dolly Parton is an icon in all aspects of her life, and we can't get enough of her recent conversation on Bunnie Xo’s podcast, Dumb Blonde. Dolly talks to Bunnie, wife of country star Jelly Roll, about breaking into the Nashville music scene, performing at the Grand Ole Opry, and keeping her and Carl Dean's 58-year-long marriage alive.
She begins by talking about her humble childhood in the Smoky Mountains, the deep influence of her close-knit family, and then segues into her breakthrough performance at the Opry, challenges she faced as a young artists in the music scene, before chatting about her marriage.
"The very day I got to Nashville I met Carl Dean. And 60 years later, I'm still with Carl Dean," Dolly says. "We've been together 60 years; we've been married 58. "She continues, "He's a good guy. He's quiet, and I'm loud, and we're funny. Oh, he's hilarious. And I think one of the things that's made it last so long through the years is that we love each other, we respect each other, but we have a lot of fun. Anytime things get too much tension going on, either one of us find a joke about it."
She continues to say, "We never fought back and forth, and I'm glad now that we never did. I'm a very sensitive person, toward other people and myself."
The couple is proof that opposites attract. Dolly says, "He was a homebody, and that worked well for us. He was in asphalt paving...He's Cancer, and I'm Capricorn, and those are compatible signs." She says she begged him to go with her in 1967 to the BMI Awards. She rented him a tux and he said, "'Look, I want you to do anything you want to do, but never ask me to go to another one of things again.' And he never did."
Dolly explains that Carl doesn't even like going to big dinners, but they do go out to McDonald's or to Mexican restaurants. She says, "He's just special to me, and I just love him like he is."
Listen to the rest of Dolly's conversation with Bunnie XO on Apple or Spotify.
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