<p id=”par-1_69″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/dolly-parton/”>Dolly Parton</a> and Porter Wagoner spent the late 1960s and early 1970s as collaborators. The pair performed on his television show, recorded duets, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/porter-wagoner-snapped-dolly-parton-air-shut.html/”>and fought constantly</a>. Parton said the bickering was indicative of the type of relationship they had; they were often together, tangled in one another’s personal and professional lives. While she denied ever feeling anything beyond the platonic for him, she acknowledged he might have felt differently. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-dolly-parton-acknowledged-that-porter-wagoner-might-have-loved-her”>Dolly Parton acknowledged that Porter Wagoner might have loved her</h2>
<p id=”par-2_18″>While Parton denied having any romantic feelings for Wagoner, those who knew them felt confident Wagoner loved her.</p>
<p id=”par-3_84″>“The main reason Dolly had such a hard time disentangling herself from Porter is because he was in love with her,” a journalist told Alanna Nash 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>. “Porter was really torn up over losing Dolly. <em>Really</em> torn up. Because he really did love her, and I don’t think he’d ever been in love with anyone but himself. And about Carl Dean, well, you know Porter was the main man in Dolly’s life all the years she was with him.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GettyImages-1395582991-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Dolly Parton wears a white dress and speaks into a microphone. Porter Wagoner wears a blue suit with a red tie and holds a microphone.” class=”wp-image-3791938″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner | Ron Davis/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-4_8″>When asked directly about it, Parton grew uncomfortable. </p>
<p id=”par-5_31″>“We were lovers,” she said. “Uh, we were lovers of music, and I suppose we had one of the world’s most unique relationships. We were not lovers as you know lovers.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_26″>She acknowledged that he may have had feelings for her, but she <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-said-fans-assume-bad-taste-affair-porter-wagoner.html/”>did not reciprocate them</a>, at least not in the way Wagoner may have hoped.</p>
<p id=”par-7_30″>“Maybe he <em>was</em> in love with me,” she said. “But it was a love of its kind. It was not a love that could ever be shared, if he was.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-dolly-parton-admitted-it-was-hard-to-describe-her-relationship-with-porter-wagoner”>Dolly Parton admitted it was hard to describe her relationship with Porter Wagoner</h2>
<p id=”par-8_27″>Still, Parton loved Wagoner in other ways. Their dynamic was creatively fruitful, but also <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-porter-wagoner-huge-fight-after-parton-gave-unreleased-songs-away-another-artist.html/”>saw them fighting constantly</a>. She admitted it was <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-admitted-hard-explain-unique-relationship-porter-wagoner.html/”>difficult to explain</a> to others.</p>
<p id=”par-9_25″>“Like I say, it was a strange kind of relationship, hard to explain to the public,” she said. “It was a love of its kind.”</p>
<p id=”par-10_16″>Many viewers of the show even believed they were married because of the chemistry between them.</p>
<p id=”par-11_58″>“Oh, I’ve heard people thought we were married and all that,” she said. “In fact, when we split our business, I mean, when I left the show, people would come up and say, ‘I really hated to hear about you and Porter gettin’ a divorce.’ But anyway, I don’t know how I could put our relationship into words.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-she-said-all-that-mattered-was-that-her-husband-knew-the-truth-of-the-matter”>She said all that mattered was that her husband knew the truth of the matter</h2>
<p id=”par-12_25″>Ultimately, Parton was married to another person by the time she joined Wagoner’s show. She said her husband, Carl Dean, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-revealed-surprising-way-husband-reacted-rumors-affair-porter-wagoner.html/”>never worried about the rumors</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-13_38″>“I have been married for a long time,” she said, “and I figure that if there had been anything between me and Porter my husband would have been the first to know it, because you cannot deceive people.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-2″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Parton-Wagoner.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”A black and white picture of Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton sitting on stools in front of their backing band, The Wagonmasters. The band stands.” class=”wp-image-3792785″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, and The Wagonmasters | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
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<p id=”par-14_16″>What mattered to her was that she, Dean, and Wagoner knew the truth of the relationship.</p>
<p id=”par-15_65″>“You know yourself you couldn’t live with a person and love em and not know if there was somethin’ else, somebody else that was takin’ away from that,” she said, adding, “You can’t fake a feelin’. You can for awhile, but you couldn’t for seven years, you know. Like I say, it was straight between my husband and me. We always knew. Porter always knew.”</p>