Loretta Lynn Once Said Her Husband ‘Ran Around’ From the Start but ‘Denied It to the End’
Though country music star Loretta Lynn revealed her husband told her on his deathbed that she was the only woman he’d been with, she also said she didn’t believe he never “ran around” on her.
As frustrating as it was for her, his rumored unfaithfulness to their marriage was something she dealt with from the start of their relationship, and it wasn’t off-limits to her songs. But did his alleged cheating ever stop her from caring for him?
Loretta Lynn didn’t think her talent was special until she married her husband
In her memoir Me & Patsy Kickin’ Up Dust, Lynn explored the roots of her friendship with Patsy Cline. But she also discussed how her husband Oliver “Mooney” Lynn, whom she called Doolittle, or just “Doo,” was instrumental in starting her career.
While discussing her childhood, Lynn mentioned that she was never much good at doing chores, but she could always sing. “Wasn’t nothing special about me being able to sing,” she noted.
But Oliver, whom she married as a teenager, saw things differently. And when he started seeing her talent clearly, she began to believe in it. He decided that was their “ticket,” and she said, “He started acting like maybe I was worth more than just a woman he lived with, having his babies and cookin’ his supper.”
“I liked it when he saw me that way,” she added. “After that, me and Doo were a team.”
Loretta Lynn confessed her husband ‘ran around’ on her from the start
Though Lynn gave Oliver much credit for her career, she didn’t sugarcoat where things were lacking. “It’s no secret that me and Doo had a rocky relationship from the start,” the “Fist City” singer shared, noting she “wasn’t but a girl” when she married and had “never even been kissed” before she met him.
According to the late country star, Oliver wasn’t faithful to her even though he claimed he was while on his deathbed. “… Doo ran around on me from the start, drinking and carrying on with other women,” she revealed. “He denied it to the end, but I know better. He did it. Plenty of times.”
Loretta Lynn said her husband didn’t get upset about her songs
Some readers might wonder if Lynn’s candid songwriting irritated her husband, but she wrote in her memoir that he “never did get upset” about songs written about him. She explained, “He was a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person. He never was one to beat around the bush.”
“He didn’t take it hard or try and make me not sing the truth,” she added. “That was a good thing. I reckon my songwriting would have been different if he tried to stop me.”
In the ’90s, Lynn learned Oliver was “living on borrowed time” due to diabetes, and she stopped everything she was doing, including touring, to take care of him. “I made a lot of folks mad at me when I up and quit like that,” she shared. “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t wasting one second of my time with Doo.”
According to Lynn, diabetes took Oliver “bit by bit,” and on August 22, 1996, after almost 50 years of marriage, she held him in her arms “while he slipped away.”
