Dolly Parton’s Husband, Carl Dean, Dead at 82
Over 60 years by Dolly's side
TasteofCountry.com
Rich Fury/Getty Images-Inset via Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton’s husband of more than five decades, Carl Dean, has died.
A representative for the singer confirms that Carl Dean died on Monday, March 3, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared over 60 years,” Parton says in a statement. “Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
Parton met Carl Dean on her very first day in Nashville in 1964, when she was an aspiring artist looking for a break. He approached her at a laundromat and struck up a conversation, and the couple quickly became inseparable.
They married in May of 1966, and, though they were married for nearly 60 years before his death and Parton frequently talked about him in interviews, fans almost never caught a glimpse of Parton’s elusive spouse over the years.
His reluctance to appear in the public spotlight took on legendary status. As Parton explained in a podcast interview with Jelly Roll’s wife, Bunnie Xo, in 2024, he was so uncomfortable with the attention that he outright refused to take part in any music business events after agreeing to attend the BMI Awards not long after they were married.
Parton was set to receive her first-ever Songwriter of the Year award at the ceremony, and she was excited to have her husband share it with her.
“I rented a tux and begged him to go,” she said. “And he did, and oh, he was so uncomfortable the whole night.”
When they returned home from the celebrity event, Dean put his foot down.
“He said, ‘Look now, I want you to do everything you want to do, and I wish you the best, but don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things, because I’m not doing it.’ And he never did,” Parton continued.
“… And I respected that. I didn’t know he was gonna be that uneasy.”
Despite his refusal to participate in the spotlight, Carl Dean was Parton’s biggest cheerleader in private over the years, as she acknowledged when she shared a throwback picture of them together in 2021. “Find you a partner who will support you like my Carl Dean does!” she wrote to accompany the photo.
Multiple outlets have reported that Dean ran a company that laid asphalt in Nashville for many years. It’s unclear what year he retired.
In 2022, Parton alluded to Dean’s advancing age in an interview with Pollstar, revealing that she didn’t believe she would ever mount a full-fledged tour ever again.
“Something could happen,” she observed. “I would not feel right about that, if I were gone and somebody needed me.”
Per Parton’s official statement, Dean leaves behind two living siblings, Sandra and Donnie. He will be “laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending.”
The family has asked for privacy at this time.
