Dolly Parton’s Husband Was 1 of the ‘Rare Individuals’ Who Could Be Married to Her
Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Dean, have been together for decades. While they seem like an unlikely pair — she embraces the spotlight while he shirks it — they work well together. Parton has spoken highly about her husband over the years, but the public rarely sees him. Her guitarist shared why he thinks Dean was such a good match for the singer.
Dolly Parton’s husband was a good match for her
Though the public does not see much of Dean, the people in Parton’s life do. Her guitarist, Don Roth, got to know Dean well as he met with the band on the road over the years. According to Roth, Parton appreciated the stability Dean brought to her life. He supported her life as a musician and was always home waiting for her when she returned from tour.
Roth also believed that Dean was one of the few people who could be married to Parton. He matched her sense of humor and didn’t allow her fame to rattle him.
“And Dolly really loves Carl, besides all that,” Roth said in the book Dolly by Alanna Nash. “He’s a neat man. Carl’s one of those rare individuals who could be married to Dolly Parton because he’s got his head on straight. He’s a good old country boy, extremely funny man. Kind of guy you can say, ‘God, Carl, you’re a country bumpkin.’ And he’ll just smile and say, ‘Yeah, probably right,’ and put the gold American Express card in his pocket and go fishing. Now, he may be incredibly Beverly Hillbillyish naive, but I have a feeling he’s more like Buddy Ebsen was in the show — he really knew what was going on.”
Dolly Parton’s husband learned to handle her fame
Part of the reason Parton and Dean’s relationship works so well is that he has learned to deal with her fame. While he does not enjoy the attention her career brings her, he has managed to make it work. After his first industry event with her, he informed her that he couldn’t go to any more.
“He really felt out of place that night,” Parton said. “So after we got home, he said, ‘Now I know this is what you want for your life, and I’m proud for you because I want you to have it if it makes you happy. But it doesn’t make me happy, and I don’t want to be part of it. I’m just too uncomfortable. It’s not me, and I can’t get involved in it.’”
She joked that being away from Dean has actually helped their relationship. She doesn’t mind that he avoids her work obligations.
He said, ‘If anything ever comes up in your business that I want to go to I’ll tell you, but otherwise, don’t ask me to go because I don’t want to be obligated, and I don’t want to feel I’m going to disappoint you when I say no,’” she said. “Well, that was eleven years ago, and he hasn’t asked to go to anything since, and I haven’t asked him, so it’s worked out fine.”
She shared why their relationship works so well
Dean’s sense of humor and willingness to support his wife’s career have undoubtedly helped their relationship. She said that the key to their decades together has been mutual respect, though.
“The longer you live with somebody, the more you know them, and you take on all their traits as well as them taking all of yours. And you just have a deeper and better understanding — more of an appreciation,” she told Vanity Fair. “But we’ve always had a great respect for each other, and I think that’s been the thing that really and truly sustained us through the years.”
