<p id=”par-1_64″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/dolly-parton/”>Dolly Parton</a> and her husband, Carl Dean, viewed fame in markedly different ways. She embraced the spotlight and he did everything he could to avoid it. They knew this about each other before marriage; Parton even warned him about the precedence her <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/music/”>music</a> career would always take in her life. She said Dean always supported her, even if he’d be happier if she quit.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-dolly-parton-said-her-husband-might-be-happier-for-her-to-find-a-new-career-path”>Dolly Parton said her husband might be happier for her to find a new career path</h2>
<p id=”par-2_56″>Parton said she had <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-shared-refused-date-music-industry.html/”>no intention to marry</a> or even date, when she first arrived in Nashville. She moved to the city to become a star. On her first day, however, she met Dean. They connected immediately, but she said that the only way she’d set aside her dreams for him was if he became sick.</p>
<p id=”par-3_98″>“The day I met Carl, I felt I found something I’d <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-revealed-intense-opinion-formed-husband-day-met.html/”>looked for all my life</a>,” she said in the book <em><a href=”https://www.amazon.com/Dolly-Alanna-Nash/dp/0891695230″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Dolly: The Biography </a></em>by Alanna Nash. “And he felt the same way. But he understood that I had to do what I had come to Nashville to do. It was in my blood from a child; I would do it under any circumstances. If he was ill and needed me, then I would quit. I would miss it, but I wouldn’t blame him for it. But nobody could ever make me quit. And he’s never tried that.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Dolly-1-1-1-1-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Dolly Parton wears a yellow dress and holds a microphone.” class=”wp-image-3786877″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Dolly Parton | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-4_25″>She admitted that he’d probably be happier if she quit music and was home more frequently. He never would have asked that of her, though.</p>
<p id=”par-5_51″>“He’d probably be happier if I did quit,” she said. “But he don’t want me to, because he knows I don’t want to. He knows it’s my life, or it’s a way of life. He knows he is just a part of my life, just like I am part of his.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-she-said-they-had-a-solid-partnership”>She said they had a solid partnership</h2>
<p id=”par-6_38″>While some have questioned the strength of Parton’s marriage, or even wondered if Dean existed at all, she has long emphasized the strength of her relationship. She hadn’t wanted to marry, but Dean made her happy she had.</p>
<p id=”par-7_27″>“We have a great understanding,” she said. “And I believed it could happen. I thought you were supposed to be happy when you married, and I am.”</p>
<p id=”par-8_10″>She said she had <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-responded-rumor-carl-dean-getting-divorced-1982.html/”>no plans for divorce</a> or remarriage.</p>
<p id=”par-9_53″>“It’s a good marriage,” she said. “It’s solid, and it’s firm. We’ve both only been married once, and that’s to each other. But it’ll be the only time I’m ever married, unless my husband should die. Because we’re that sure of each other and what we have. I’m sure it will last forever.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-dolly-parton-warned-her-husband-about-her-career-before-they-married”>Dolly Parton warned her husband about her career before they married</h2>
<p id=”par-10_48″>While Dean had only ever been supportive of her career, Parton still felt <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-warned-husband-kind-marriage-people.html/”>she should warn him</a> that they wouldn’t have a traditional marriage dynamic. She’d be on the road for weeks at a time, and his disinclination to join her meant they wouldn’t see each other often.</p>
<p id=”par-11_65″>“I explained to him exactly how I felt about my music — that it wasn’t something I did, it was me,” Parton said. “I told him I had to do it, no matter what. And he knew that my music was what had brought me to Nashville in the first place and that I wasn’t going to let anyone or anything stand in my way.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-2″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Dolly-Parton-3.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”A black and white picture of Dolly Parton standing in front of a microphone with an acoustic guitar.” class=”wp-image-3785947″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Dolly Parton | Richard E. Aaron/Redferns</figcaption></figure>
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<p id=”par-12_9″>He told her he wanted her to be happy. </p>
<p id=”par-13_60″>“I told him he had to be willing to accept this and that I had to know in my heart he could live with it, or we’d end up hurting one another, and I couldn’t stand that,” she said. “He said, ‘If that’s what you want and that’s what makes you happy, then that’s what I want you to have.’”</p>