Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Thomas Dean, embody the concept that opposites attract.

On a recent edition of Bunnie Xo’s podcast Dumb Blonde, the country star, 78, shared rare details about her 58-year marriage to Dean, 82, and revealed the key to making love endure, despite their divergent perspectives on life in the spotlight.

“He’s quiet, I’m loud, and we’re funny,” she told me. “Oh, he is hilarious. I believe that one of the reasons it has lasted so long is that we love and respect each other while still having a great time.

The “Jolene” singer revealed that the couple’s common sense of humor has even helped them avoid significant fights over the years.

“Whenever there’s too much tension, either one of us can find a joke to really break it up, so we don’t let it go so far,” she told me. “We never argued back and forth. And I’m glad we didn’t, because once you start, it’s a lifetime thing. I’ve observed this phenomenon with numerous individuals, and I made the decision to never embark on such a journey. “He’d say something I couldn’t take, because I’m a very sensitive person toward others and myself.”

Parton married Dean in 1966, two years after they met in a Nashville laundry on the day she came to the city.

Despite his wife’s A-list celebrity, he has mostly avoided the spotlight during their six-decade marriage. Although they rarely appear together in public, Dean continues to fully support Parton’s career.

In a 1977 PEOPLE cover story, Parton characterized her spouse as “sort of shy and quiet” and stated that he had never seen her perform.

She told me, “What we have together is so sweet and good that I’d never want it to jumble up with the other.”

In 2015, she told PEOPLE that being so different was what drew her to Dean, who had previously worked in the asphalt paving industry.

“We’re completely opposite, but that’s what makes it fun,” she went on: “I’m never sure what he’ll say or do.” He always surprises me.”

In 2016, the couple repeated their vows at home in Nashville. She told PEOPLE at the time that she wanted to wear a “beautiful wedding dress” for the occasion, as she didn’t have one during their first wedding, when they married in Ringgold, Ga., with only her mother there as a witness.