Dolly Parton Says She and Husband Carl Dean Share ‘Warped Sense of Humor’
Dolly Parton been delighting audiences in country music for more than 55 years, and she's done it all with her husband Carl Dean by her side. The two have been married as long as she's been in the business. They met in Nashville on her very first day in town and they wed on May 30, 1966. Their union has stayed strong through the years, and Dolly Parton attributes their lasting marriage to one thing, in particular: laughter.
"We love each other, we respect each other, we both have a warped sense of humor," she tells ET Canada's Morgan Hoffman in a recent interview. "I think humor, honestly, I think that is one of the best things when you're married like that...If you say something you can't take back, we usually have some crazy way of getting out of it."
"But we've never had serious arguments arguments to say bad things about each other that we've had to take back," she adds.
Parton says another reason her marriage has stayed so strong is because she and her husband have varying interests and can spend time apart as well as together.
"I stay gone," she says with a laugh.
"There's a lot to be said about that," she continues, in all seriousness. "We're not in each other's face all the time. He's not in the business, so we have different interests, but yet we have the things we love to do together. It was meant to be. I think he was the one I was supposed to have and vice versa."
Parton and Dean will celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary this May. The singer is also looking forward to hearing Dean's reaction to her upcoming rock album.
“He loves all of the songs, and I haven’t told him yet who I’m going to have on," she says. "I don’t even know myself, who all is going to be on it, but he’ll love it. I’m doing so many of his favorite songs on the album, so I’ll play it to him when it’s all done."
Parton announced plans to record a rock album after she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year. On an episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in early December, Parton revealed that the album will be titled Rockstar, and it will be released in fall 2023.
Parton also teased that the album will include special guests and she'll be covering classic rock songs such as "Purple Rain," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Stairway to Heaven" and "Free Bird." Parton debuted her own original rock song, "Rockin'" during her induction.