Dolly Parton’s husband, Carl Dean, was last spotted in a rare public outing five years before his death.
Parton announced on Monday, March 3, that Dean had passed away at the age of 82.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,” Parton, 79, wrote via an Instagram statement. “Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
The pair tied the knot in 1966, when Parton’s music career was taking off. While the “Jolene” singer became super-famous, branching out into acting and philanthropy, her intensely private spouse preferred to stay out of the limelight.
After Parton gave her statement Monday, People published photos that reportedly showed Dean visiting a post office near their Brentwood, Tennessee, home in December 2019. The outlet reported that it was the first time Dean had been photographed publicly in 40 years. In the snapshots, Dean was then 77 years old and dressed in jeans, a checkered shirt and a tan coat. According to People, Dean had stepped out with an assistant that day.
“We’re the perfect partners,” Parton exclusively told Us Weekly in January 2022. “We both have a great sense of humor. … We’re able to solve any problem and any situation, making a joke about it and not letting it get too heavy, but we respect each other and we like each other. We lucked up, let’s put it that way.”
She added, “You know, most people can keep a marriage [going strong] if you make a little effort. Some people just get slouching and lazy and about stuff that ain’t important, like leaving the toilet seat up. And if that’s the worst thing you’ve to worry about, you’re already in trouble.”
The day after graduating from high school in 1964, Parton moved to Nashville from her hometown of Sevierville to pursue singing. She soon met Dean outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat.
When Dean set eyes on Parton, “My first thought was I’m gonna marry that girl,” he revealed on their 50th anniversary in 2016. “My second thought was, Lord she’s good lookin.’ And that was the day my life began. I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.”
As for Dolly, “I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me). He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”
Dean supported his wife’s high-profile career but wasn’t interested in being famous himself. He disliked the spotlight so much that he avoided attending events with his wife.
While interviewing Parton for a profile in 1979, a Cosmopolitan reporter finally caught a glimpse of Dean. “Tall and good-looking, rather like a young Gregory Peck, he has a way of moving his angular body so that he seems to come toward you in sections,” the article read. “He is a fan of television and nightclub comic Steve Martin.”
Parton previously addressed Dean’s need for privacy in a 2020 interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“A lot of people have thought that [he doesn’t exist] through the years, because he does not want to be in the spotlight at all,” Parton told the outlet. “It’s just not who he is. He’s, like, a quiet, reserved person.”
“He said, ‘I didn’t choose this world, I chose you, and you chose that world. But we can keep our lives separate and together.’ And we do and we have,” Parton said at the time, adding that she “always respected and appreciated” that side of him.
