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FRISCO, TEXAS - MAY 11: Dolly Parton attends the 58th Academy Of Country Music Awards at The Ford ... [+] Center at The Star on May 11, 2023 in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Theo Wargo/WireImage)
Carl Dean, Dolly Parton’s husband since 1966, died Monday in Nashville. He was 82. No cause of death was announced.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” wrote Dolly Parton in a statement. “Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
The family has asked for respect and privacy at this time.
Dolly Parton met Carl Dean at age 18, in 1964, outside a local laundromat the day she moved to Nashville. Dean was 21 at the time and they were married in Ringgold, Georgia in May 1966 with only her mother as a witness shortly after Dolly released her first album, Hello, I’m Dolly.
Unlike Parton, Dean avoided the spotlight, opting instead to focus on his asphalt business and rarely attending any public events.
In the years that followed, Dolly became an iconic country music star and popular actress, with a roster of films including 9 to 5 (1980) and Steel Magnolias (1989), and the recent Netflix drama anthology series Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings, while Carl focused on running his asphalt business.
"Dean never wanted to be in the spotlight. One night at an awards show in 1966 was enough to convince him that the glitz and glam was not the scene for him. After the event, Dean told his new wife, I love you, and I will support you in your career any way I can, but I am not going to any more of these wingdings,’ Parton wrote in her 1994 autobiography, Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business.
Parton was one of 12 children, but the couple never raised their own family.
Just last week, Sabrina Carpenter’s Please Please Please single featuring Dolly Parton debuted on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart at No. 17 on the survey.
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