Dolly Parton Reveals Secret to Lasting Marriage to Carl Dean 57 Years After They Wed

Dolly Parton and Carl Dean have been married for 57 years, and she has revealed the secret to their lasting "open relationship" in her tell-all documentary.

In 1964, Dean first laid her eyes on Parton while at a laundromat in Nashville. Two years later, their relationship bloomed and it led to them hearing wedding bells. The pair have been by each other's sides since then until Parton made her way to the industry.

Dolly Parton Opens Up About Marriage to Carl Dean

In her new tell-all documentary "Dolly Parton: In Her Own Words" on Channel 5, the country crooner recalled their first meeting and how they started talking from there.

Parton previously spoke candidly about it in her book, "Dolly on Dolly, Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton," sharing that men are her weakness.

"He's not jealous and I'm not jealous of him. He knows I flirt. He flirts too," she went on. "Yes, it's an open relationship, but not sexually and I would kill him if I thought he was doing that. He would shoot me too. At the end of the day we love each other madly."

Parton and Dean celebrated their 57th anniversary in May, but they have been together for 59 years in total. She divulged during her appearance on Zoe Ball's "BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show" in November why she knew their marriage has endured, crediting their sense of humor while being honest to each other as the things that helped them through the years.

The pair previously marked their 50 years of marriage by renewing their vows in a private ceremony in Nashville, Tenn.

Dolly Parton and Carl Dean Never Had a Child

Despite being together for almost six decades, Parton and Dean made a joint decision not to have a child.

She spoke about the current political climate and its effects on kids, saying, "we're not making any progress."

"Nobody's willing to listen to anybody else," she said. "Everybody already knows everything. You're going to teach your children the same thing, whether it's right or wrong."

In a separate interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2020, she said she believes it was God's will not to have a child. She instead poured her love into her book-gifting initiative, Imagination Library.

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