Carl Dean, Dolly Parton’s Husband of Nearly 60 Years, Dies at 82

Carl Dean, a Nashville businessman and beloved husband of Dolly Parton for nearly 60 years, died on Monday (March 3). He was 82 years old.

The news of his death was announced via Parton’s Instagram page, along with a statement from the country superstar. “Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,” the statement reads. “Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”

The statement ends with requests for privacy from the family. A cause of death has yet to be revealed.

Dean and Parton met outside a laundromat in Nashville as young adults, the same day Parton arrived in Music City at 18 years old to pursue her dreams of a music career (at that point, Parton had released a handful of non-charting singles; she first entered the Hot Country Songs chart with “Dumb Blonde” not long after their marriage).

“We had the car radio on,” Parton told Billboard of the day she met Dean. “I don’t remember what it was playing, but it was loud and it was rock ’n roll.”

Parton and Dean wed on May 30, 1966 in Ringgold, Georgia. They renewed their vows in Nashville on their 50th anniversary in 2016.

Dean has famously been averse to the spotlight. Only rarely do photographs of the couple emerge, and Parton has said that Dean has only ever seen her perform live once. At various times during her career, she has even had to debunk rumors that her husband doesn’t exist. “A lot of people have thought that through the years, because he does not want to be in the spotlight at all,” Parton told Entertainment Tonight during an interview in 2020.

Parton recently discussed her relationship with Dean during an interview with Bunnie XO on the latter’s Dumb Blonde podcast in December, sharing the secret to their long-lasting marriage. “He’s quiet and I’m loud, and we’re funny,” she explained. “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 [and] we respect each other, but we have a lot of fun.”

She added, “Anytime [there’s] too much tension going on, either one of us can like, find a joke about it to really break the tension, where we don’t let it go so far. We never fought back and forth. And I’m glad now that we never did, because once you start that, that becomes a lifetime thing.”

Dean is survived by Parton and his two siblings, Sandra and Donnie.