<p id=”par-1_53″>Country music mogul <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/dolly-parton/”>Dolly Parton</a> is one of the most-loved celebrities today. But all the love from fans doesn’t amount from the love she had in her quiet relationship with her <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/dolly-partons-husband-carl-dean-dies-82.html/”>late husband, Carl Thomas Dean.</a> Parton’s team announced Dean’s death on <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/p/DGwdXPoPvoj/”>Instagram</a>, which occurred on March 3. He was 82 years old.</p>
<p id=”par-2_34″>Parton and Dean hardly publicized their relationship through the years, but through all of her fame, they stuck together thick as thieves. And their love story started when Dolly was just 18 years old.</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-Parton-Carl-Dean-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Dolly Parton” class=”wp-image-3784268″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Dolly Parton | Katherine Bomboy/NBC/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-dolly-parton-had-been-with-carl-dean-since-she-was-18-years-old”>Dolly Parton had been with Carl Dean since she was 18 years old</h2>
<p id=”par-3_60″>When Parton set foot in Nashville, she had one dream: To make a name for herself. Parton has certainly built a massive career, from being a hit songwriter to establishing Dollywood. She’s one of the most-loved singers in country music and has collaborated with all kinds of starts outside of the country sphere, showing that she’s well-rounded and widely respected.</p>
<p id=”par-4_59″>But it was her quiet <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/dolly-parton-husbands-love-impressed-around.html/”>relationship with Carl Dean</a> that made her the happiest. Parton was 18 when she met Dean, who was 21, at a laundromat on her first day after moving to Nashville, Tennessee. Through the years, Parton has given some insight into that first meeting with the man who would become the love of her life.</p>
<p id=”par-5_108″>“I’d come to Nashville with dirty clothes,” Parton said in a <a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/09/archives/the-country-girl-country-girl.html”>New York Times</a> interview in 1976. “I was in such a hurry to get here, and after I’d put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin’ down the street, just lookin’ at my new home, and this guy hollered at me, and I waved. Bein’ from the country, I spoke to everybody. And he came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband.” According to <a href=”https://people.com/music/dolly-parton-carl-thomas-dean-relationship-timeline/”>People</a>, Dean later revealed in an interview that meeting Parton “was the day my life began.” Parton and Dean dated for about two years before he proposed, and that was it.</p>
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<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-dolly-parton-released-a-sweet-statement-about-her-husband-s-death”>Dolly Parton released a sweet statement about her husband’s death</h2>
<p id=”par-6_59″>Parton and Dean had been together for 60 years by the time he died, and when Parton’s team made the announcement on social media, they included a statement from the singer. “Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”</p>
<p id=”par-7_58″>Dean lived in the background while Parton was constantly in the spotlight, and it takes a strong relationship to be able to do that. Parton’s manager actually requested in the 1960s that she not marry Dean due to her thriving career, but Parton went behind her manager’s back <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/dolly-partons-husband-married.html/”>and married Dean anyway</a>. And, well, the rest is history.</p>