Carl Dean, Dolly Parton’s longtime husband, died on Monday, March 3. He was 82.
The news was shared in a post on Parton’s Instagram account. “Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away on March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82,” reads the post with white type on a black background. “He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He was survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie.”
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” Parton said in the post. “Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
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“The family has asked for privacy during this difficult time,” the statement concluded. A cause of death was not provided.
Despite the fact that Parton and Dean spent six decades together, Dean remained private over the years and shied away from the spotlight, rarely appearing in public with the “I Will Always Love You” singer and songwriter, and rarely speaking to the press.
“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,” he reportedly told his wife after attending an awards show in 1966, according to Rolling Stone.
The pair were married on Memorial Day in 1966.
When promoting her 2023 album Rockstar, Parton gave a nod to Dean for inspiring her crossover to rock.
“From the time I met him in 1964—he just had rock and roll blasting. That’s his music,” Parton told ABC News. “Most of these songs I chose because of Carl, and because I knew they were good songs, ’cause he knows good music,” she added.
Parton said that she picked the 21 covers of iconic rocks songs on the album with Dean on her mind.
When discussing how their marriage lasted 60 years, the Rock and Roll and Country Music Hall of Famer said that there is truth to the cliché that absence makes the heart grow founder.
“I’m just saying, anything new gets old,” Parton told E! News. “And I think if you just kind of stay together so much, you just nitpick every little thing and notice all that.” She added: “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.”
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