Married for almost 60 years Dolly Parton mourns the death of her husband Carl Thomas Dean
Sad news from Dolly Parton. As the country singer announced on Instagram, her husband Carl Thomas Dean has died. The two were a couple for over 60 years.
04.03.2025, 19:40
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- Carl Thomas Dean, the husband of Dolly Parton, has died in Nashville at the age of 82.
- The cause of death has not been announced.
- The two were married for almost 60 years and kept their relationship largely out of the public eye.
- Parton paid tribute to her late husband in an emotional Instagram post and thanked him for his sympathy.
The husband of US singer Dolly Parton (79) died on Monday at the age of 82 in Nashville in the US state of Tennessee. The couple had been married for almost 60 years.
A spokesperson for the singer told the AP that Carl Thomas Dean will be buried in the presence of his immediate family.
"Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words cannot do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and condolences," Parton shared in an Instagram post.
The cause of death was not disclosed. Dean is survived by Parton and his two siblings.
Behind the scenes, Dolly Parton's husband was her biggest fan
Parton met Dean outside a laundromat the day she moved to Nashville when she was 18. "I was surprised and delighted that he looked me in the face while he was talking to me (which was a rarity for me)," Parton had previously described the meeting. "He seemed genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about." Two years later, on May 30, 1966, the couple married.
Parton and Dean kept their relationship a secret for decades. In 1984, Parton told the AP, "A lot of people say there is no Carl Dean, that he's just someone I made up to keep other people away from me." She joked that she would like to pose with him on the cover of a magazine "so at least people know I'm not married to a wart or something".
Dean was a businessman and owned an asphalt paving company in Nashville. "He's rather shy and quiet," Parton said in a People interview in 1977.
In 2019, the singer also told People: "He always supports me, as long as I don't try to drag him into it." Behind the scenes, he has always been her biggest fan.
