Old Dolly Parton Footage Surfaces, Talking About Meeting Her Husband, Carl, the Day She Moved to Nashville
Dolly Parton has never known Nashville without her husband, Carl Dean. The two actually met by chance on the first day Parton set foot in Music City in 1964.
"Well, I just took up with a strange man, that's all," Parton jokes in an old 1977 interview with Johnny Carson. "My daddy didn't want me to leave home for that very reason. He knew I'd do that."
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson clip resurfaced thanks to TikTok. In it, Parton shares the story of meeting Dean at a laundromat. One day after graduating high school, she packed her things. Being in such a hurry, she had only packed dirty clothes. So, she made her first-ever trip to a laundromat and ended up meeting the love of her life.
"We met at the wishy-washy and, in all honesty, it's been wishy-washy ever since," she jokes with a laugh.
Dean and Parton would marry two years after meeting, in 1966. The two celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary on May 30, 2022.
In a 2011 interview, Parton admitted that they were both "really proud" of their long-running marriage. "It's the first for both of us. And the last," she said.
Despite the global superstar status that his wife maintains, Dean has mostly stayed out of the spotlight. Occasionally, Parton will share a throwback photo of the couple on social media — like last year, when she wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving with an old snap showing her and Carl cozy on a couch.
In that same interview with Carson, Parton remarked that Dean probably wouldn't even have been watching her appearance on the show. She also opened up a little about why her husband wasn't overly involved in her career at the time — he still isn't.
"It makes him kind of nervous," she revealed. "I don't really know why he don't watch, but he just never does watch me perform. He's never seen me perform and we've been married for 10 years."
Later this year, Parton will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The "9 to 5" singer is part of an historic class that is the first to include six women. The 37th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on Nov. 5, 2022 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
Parton says she is eyeing a rock album in the near future — something Dean will love since he is a huge rock fan.
