Dolly Parton’s husband, Carl Thomas Dean, dies at 82
Carl Thomas Dean, the husband of country music legend Dolly Parton, has died at the age of 82.
unbranded – Entertainment
Dolly Parton is speaking after the death of her husband.
In a statement posted Thursday on Instagram, the country music legend thanked fans for their support in the days since husband Carl Thomas Dean died at age 82.
“This is a love note to family, friends, and fans,” Parton wrote. “Thank you for all the messages, cards, and flowers that you’ve sent to pay your respects for the loss of my beloved husband Carl. I can’t reach out personally to each of you but just know it has meant the world to me.”
She closed, “He is in God’s arms now and I am okay with that. I will always love you.”
Parton shared news of her husband’s death on Monday. On her social media channels, the “9 to 5” singer said she and Dean “spent many wonderful years together,” and “words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” adding, “Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
Parton and Dean, an asphalt paver, married in 1966. They did not share any children.
Dean was notoriously private during his marriage to Parton, rarely appearing with her in public. According to her 1994 autobiography “Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business,” he declared after attending an awards show with her in 1966, “I love you, and I will support you in your career any way I can, but I am not going to any more of these wingdings.”
But Parton spoke about her husband in interviews, and she told Knox News, part of the USA TODAY Network, in 2024, “There’s always that safety, that security, that strength. He’s a good man, and we’ve had a good life and he’s been a good husband.”
Dean also helped birth “Jolene,” one of Parton’s most famous songs. She told NPR in 2008 that the track was inspired by a bank teller who was flirting with her husband after they got married.
“She got this terrible crush on my husband,” Parton said. “And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.”
Contributing: Edward Segarra and Devarrick Turner
Leave a Reply