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Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Dean, were married for nearly 60 years before their respective deaths.
The country icon first met her future spouse when she moved to Nashville in 1964 to start her music career. Parton and Dean tied the knot within two years of meeting each other, but as Parton’s star rose, Dean kept to himself. They celebrated their 50th anniversary in May 2016.
“We’re the perfect partners,” Parton exclusively told Usin January 2022. “We both have a great sense of humor. … We’re able to solve any problem and any situation, making a joke about it and not letting it get too heavy, but we respect each other and we like each other. We lucked up, let’s put it that way.”
She added, “You know, most people can keep a marriage [going strong] if you make a little effort. Some people just get slouching and lazy and about stuff that ain’t important, like leaving the toilet seat up. And if that’s the worst thing you’ve to worry about, you’re already in trouble.”
More than a year after Dean’s death on March 3, 2025 at the age of 82, Parton died in August 2026. She was 80.
Keep scrolling for a look back at Parton and Dean’s romance:
