Dolly Parton and her husband Carl Dean recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, which came as a shock to many fans who didn’t even know she was married. Parton’s legal name is Dolly Parton Dean, but she continues to use her maiden name on stage and screen. Her reclusive husband, a retired owner of a asphalt pavign business, stays out of the public eye and has only seen his wife perform once in his life.
In an interview with the magazine Closer Weekly, Dolly Parton’s sister Stella admits that her brother-in-law is a recluse, but that’s not a bad thing! “When it’s important stuff family-wise, he’s there — weddings, births, and funerals. But he doesn’t care a thing about all the public stuff. It’s not his bag at all, and we respect that,” Stella told Closer. “He thinks of all that as foolishness. But he doesn’t say anything about us doing it because ‘That’s what the girls do.’ That’s the way he says it.”
Parton and Dean met at a laundromat when Parton was just 18-years-old. Their quite wedding in Ringgold, Georgia had only a single guest, Parton’s mother. With no children of their own, Parton and Dean helped raise Parton’s younger siblings.
While Dean stay’s out to the spotlight, he couldn’t be closer to Parton’s heart. “He really is my best friend,” she said in an interview with Closer. “If I had it to do all over, I’d do it all over again, and we did.” For their 50th anniversary Parton and Dean had a private vow-renewal ceremony. “I’m dragging him, kicking and screaming, into the next 50 years!” she laughed. Stella agree’s with Dolly and support’s Dean’s love “He’s a good guy!”
Take a look at some incredibly rare photos of Dolly and Carl in the delightful video below.
