Dolly Parton shared a throwback photo with longtime husband Carl Dean on Instagram. The country icon, 75, gushed about her supportive partner, 79, alongside a snapshot of him wearing a Dolly band t-shirt, while she rocked a red blouse and yellow pants. The couple, who have been married for over 50 years, hold hands in the nostalgic snapshot shared on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
“Find you a partner who will support you like my Carl Dean does!” Dolly captioned the post.
The longtime couple have been married since May 1966, tying the knot in Georgia. Unlike his larger-than-life wife, Carl prefers to live a low key life outside of the limelight. The businessman’s affinity for privacy has even previously led some people to theorize that he did not exist. The “Jolene” singer addressed this in an interview with Entertainment Tonight in October 2020. “A lot of people have thought that through the years, because he does not want to be in the spotlight at all,” Dolly said.
“It’s just not who he is,” she continued. “He’s like, a quiet, reserved person and he figured if he ever got out there in that, he’d never get a minute’s peace and he’s right about that. I’ve always respected and appreciated that in him and I’ve always tried to keep him out of the limelight as much as I can.” She added, “He said, ‘I didn’t choose this world, I chose you, and you chose that world. But we can keep our lives separate and together.’ And we do and we have. We’ve been together 56 years, married 54.”
The country singer also joked about what helps the longevity of their marriage. “Our joke about the fact, when people ask me why it’s lasted this long, I say, ‘Because I stay gone,'” Dolly said. “And there’s a lot of truth in that — the fact that we’re not in each other’s faces all the time. But we do have a great respect and admiration for each other. We both have a great sense of humor. So, we have a lot of fun.” Back in 2016 for their 50th wedding anniversary, the couple renewed their wedding vows in a private ceremony in Tennessee.
“If I had it to do all over, I’d do it all over again, and we did,” Dolly said in a statement at the time. “I’m dragging him kicking and screaming into the next 50 years. Wish us luck.”