Dolly Parton Shares a Throwback Photo With Husband Carl Dean for Valentine’s Day
Dolly Parton treated fans to a rare photo of her famously private husband, Carl Dean on Valentine's Day (Feb. 14). In the sweet throwback shot, Parton smiles for the camera as Dean plants a kiss on her cheek.
"Happy Valentine's Day y'all!" Parton wrote in the caption of her post. "Remember to squeeze your loved ones a little tighter today and tell them you love 'em!"
Dean and Parton first met in a laundromat in Nashville, and they've been married for 55 years, though Dean doesn't share his superstar wife's comfort with being in the spotlight. He never accompanies her on red carpet appearances or at public events. However, Parton has offered some insight into her marriage during interviews: For example, in a recent conversation with E! News' Daily Pop, she explained that she likes to get a little glammed up at home, even when it's just her and her husband.
"I like to dress up for Carl," the singer said. "Every day, I put on some makeup and fix my hair, because I think, 'Well, the whole world, I'm out here and everybody else sees me all dressed up.' I'm not just gonna go home and flop on him."
The star's Valentine's Day post is one of a number of throwback pictures she's been sharing recently, and occasionally, those peeks into her life through the years include her husband. In one recent example, she shared an image of them holding hands together, captioning the post, "Find you a partner who will support you like my Carl Dean does!"
Parton and Dean got married in 1966; she was just 20 years old at the time and he was 23. The following year, she released her first studio album, Hello, I'm Dolly. Despite the fact that the couple keep their relationship largely out of the spotlight, fans can get a look into their life together through the lyrics of some of her songs, such as her iconic "Jolene."
Earlier in 2022, Parton explained that the titular character of that song was based on a real-life bank teller who — at least, it seemed to her — caught her husband's eye. While she doesn't feel so threatened by "Jolene" these days, Parton has joked that in their comfortable marriage of over five decades, she's occasionally thought about the prospect of her man being scooped out from under her in a different light.
"Every once in a while I see Carl leaned back, snoring in his La-Z-Boy chair, and I think, 'Where's Jolene when I need her?' You can have him now," the singer quipped to the Daily Pop.
See Dolly Parton's Life and Career in Pictures