After 58 years of marriage, Dolly Parton and husband Carl Thomas Dean know a thing or two about compromise and maintaining a healthy relationship.
During an appearance on Bunnie Xo’s “Dumb Blonde” podcast, the country music icon, 78, opened up about her unique bond with Dean and explained how they avoid arguments within their relationship.
“He’s quiet and I’m loud, and we’re funny,” she told Jelly Roll’s wife on the podcast. “Oh, he’s hilarious. And I think one of the things that’s made it last so long through the years is that we love each other [and] we respect each other, but we have a lot of fun. Anytime [there’s] too much tension going on, either one of us can like, find a joke about it to really break the tension, where we don’t let it go so far.”
“We never fought back and forth,” she added. “And I’m glad now that we never did, because once you start that, that becomes a lifetime thing. I’ve seen it with so many people, and I thought, ‘I ain’t ever starting that.’ I couldn’t bear to think that he’d say something I couldn’t take… because I’m a very sensitive person toward other people and myself.”
The couple has been married since 1966. Parton met Dean at a laundromat when she was 18, and he was 21.
While Dean has been Parton’s biggest supporter, he’s made it a point to remain out of the spotlight all these years.
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“He loves music, but he’s not the least bit interested in being in it. And he told me that right up front,” she told Bunnie Xo.
DOLLY PARTON REVEALS SECRET TO 56-YEAR MARRIAGE WITH HUSBAND CARL THOMAS DEAN: ‘IT WAS MEANT TO BE’
“I begged him to go with me in ‘67. We’d got married in ‘66. So, that’s when I won the first award for the BMI song of the year (“Put it Off Until Tomorrow.”). And I rented him a tux and, you know, begged him to go, and he did. And, oh, he was so uncomfortable the whole night.”
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When they returned home, Parton said Dean “started pulling off stuff” immediately.
“He said, ‘Look, now I want you to do everything you want to do, and I wish you the best, but don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain’t going.’ And he never did,” she said.
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“So we just kind of have that respect, and I respected that because I didn’t know he was gonna be that uneasy, but he doesn’t even like to go out to, you know, to big dinners or anything like that,” she added.
The “Jolene” crooner said their different interests actually bring them closer together.
“He was a homebody, and that worked well for us,” she said. “I don’t know if anybody out there goes by astrology or pays attention to that. But he’s Cancer, and I’m Capricorn, and those are compatible signs. He loved to go places, if we were going to drive cross-country or if we had planned a thing. But, boy, he could never wait to get home.”
“He wanted to be around home, and I’m a gypsy by nature,” she added. “I just love to go and love to see what else is out there. But, I think… that’s worked well for us.”
