Carl Thomas Dean, Dolly Parton’s husband, died at age 82.

The 79-year-old country music star revealed the death of her famously reclusive husband on Monday, following nearly 60 years of marriage.

The Jolene singer shared on Instagram that Carl died on March 3rd in Nashville.

In her sorrowful tribute, Dolly reflected on the many great years’ the couple had together, expressing her profound love for Carl and thanking fans for their prayers..

‘Carl and I had many lovely years together. Words cannot express the love we have shared for more than 60 years. “Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” Dolly wrote.

Carl is survived by two siblings: Sandra and Donnie. He will be put to rest in a private ceremony attended by his close relatives.

The complete announcement read, “Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, died on March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82.” He will be put to rest in a private ceremony attended by his close relatives. He is survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie.

‘The family has requested privacy at this trying time.’

The pair has been married since 1966.

In 2024, Dolly provided a rare look inside her marriage by revealing why her spouse refused to attend gatherings with her.

On an episode of Bunnie Xo’s Dumb Blonde Podcast, the singer confessed that her hubby ‘loves’ music but is ‘not the least bit interested in being in it.’

Dolly recalled a critical occasion early in their marriage when she persuaded Carl to attend an awards presentation in 1967 after winning BMI Song of the Year.

Despite his victory, ‘homebody’ Carl warned her, ‘I wish you the best, but don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I am not going.’

She said that he never did.

Throughout their decades together, the pair, who repeated their vows in 2016 at their Nashville home, has depended on their common sense of humor to prevent disagreements.

The singer, who is the godmother of Miley Cyrus, praised her ‘hilarious’ spouse, stating, ‘He’s quiet, I’m loud, and we’re funny…we have a lot of fun.’

‘Anytime [there is] too much stress going on, either one of us can, like, make a joke about it to really break the tension, where we don’t let it go so far,’ she stated.

We never battled back and forth.

In 2008, Parton told NPR that her 1973 song Jolene was partially inspired by a local bank clerk who used to flirt with her husband.

She fell deeply in love with my spouse. And he enjoyed coming to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kind of a running joke between us when I said, “Hey, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank.” I don’t believe we have that type of money,” Dolly said.

Years later, she told a crowd at the Glastonbury Festival that she penned the song while her husband was spending more time with Jolene than he should have. I put a stop to it. I swiftly parted ways with the redhead girl.

The couple originally met in a laundry in Nashville in 1964, when she was just 18 years old, and Carl has remained a consistent and supporting presence for Dolly behind the scenes during her meteoric rise to stardom.

In her Channel 5 documentary, Dolly Parton: In Her Own Words, she discussed how they met for the first time in 2023.

‘When I first went to Nashville in 1964, I was washing filthy laundry because I was in a rush to get here from my home in East Tennessee, which was 200 miles away.’

‘I had never gone to a laundry before. As soon as I stepped outside, I noticed an attractive man driving by the poorly maintained laundry. And he pulled to the side.

‘So we started conversing and were married two years later.’

While Dolly’s reputation expanded, Carl, who had operated a road-paving company, stayed out of the spotlight, willing to support his wife from the background.

Despite his reluctance to join her in public, Dolly has always tried to keep their relationship alive.

In 2022, she told E! News that she always dressed up for her hubby.

‘Every day, I put on some lipstick and fix my hair because I thought, “Well, the whole world, I’m out here, and everybody else sees me all dressed up, and I’m not going to just kind of go home and just flop on him,”‘ she explained.

‘No one wants to make out with a slouch! It’s crucial for me to look my best. I think it helps keep things spicy.

In her 2017 book Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton, the diva expressed, “Men are my weakness.”

She remarked, “Men are my weakness.” Short, overweight, bald, or tiny—I’ve had crushes on some really weird men, but Carl knows I’ll always come home, and I’m not having sex with these individuals; I’m simply flirting and having fun.

‘He is not jealous, and I am not jealous of him. He is aware of my flirtatious behavior. He flirts, too.

She went on to say, ‘Yes, it’s an open relationship, but not sexually, and I would murder him if I suspected he was doing so.

‘He would shoot me, too. At the end of the day, we love each other dearly.

Dolly explained why her marriage to Carl has persisted during an appearance on Zoe Ball’s BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show in 2023.

‘I think so much of it is because we are honest and upfront, and we have a strange sense of humor!’

‘He’s wacky, amusing, and brilliant. And I inherited a terrific sense of humor from both sides of my family, so I believe the comedy has always been good.

She went on to claim that their romance has always been based on mutual ‘love and respect.’.

‘There’s respect and affection, and I really like him!’

‘You know, I would have enjoyed him if he hadn’t been my husband; if he was someone else’s spouse, I’d remark, “You know Carl Dean, isn’t he funny?” “Ain’t he a good guy?” I believe it’s just mutual respect, and we just like each other.

While Dolly has joked that Carl has only seen her perform once, she did tell Entertainment Tonight about a lovely talk she had with her husband.

‘He stated, “I did not pick this planet; I chose you, and you chose that world. But we may spend our lives separately and together. And we do. We have.

In 2011, Dolly told the Toronto Sun, ‘We’re really proud of our marriage. It’s our first. It’s also the final one.

While the couple has never had children, the musician claims she has ‘not missed’ having them.

She stated that starting a family would have put her work on hold and that having children was not a ‘burning’ desire for her.

She told Saga Magazine, ‘I haven’t missed it as I expected. When you’re a young couple, you assume you’ll have children, but it wasn’t one of those burning desires for me. I had a job and music, and I was traveling.

‘If I’d had children, I’d have remained home with them. I’m certain, and I worried myself to death over them.

“I always say God didn’t let me have children so that all kids could be mine.”