'A warped sense of humor': Dolly Parton reveals how her marriage to husband Carl Dean lasted 56 years

'We both have a warped sense of humor. And I think humour, honestly, is one of the best things when you're married,' Dolly Parton reportedly said
PUBLISHED DEC 22, 2022
Dolly Parton and Carl Dean first met in Nashville in 1964 and have been married for 56 years (dollyparton/Instagram)
Dolly Parton and Carl Dean first met in Nashville in 1964 and have been married for 56 years (dollyparton/Instagram)

SEVEIRVILLE, TENNESSEE: Dolly Parton shared the key to a happy marriage after almost six decades with her husband, Carl Dean. The 76-year-old 'Jolene' hitmaker, who has been married to Dean for 56 years, attributes their blooming romance to a unique factor.

The country music star said that the secret to their enduring love was being able to laugh. "We both have a warped sense of humor. And I think humour, honestly, is one of the best things when you're married," she told ET Canada.

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The '9 to 5' hitmaker continued, "Even if you have a problem, if you have a great sense of humor, if you say something you can't take back [you] usually have some crazy way of getting out of it. We've never had, you know, serious arguments to say bad things to each other we have to take back," she explained. The music star also credited their ability to not get "in each other's faces all the time", which she said has really helped their long-lasting relationship, "I like it when people say, 'How did it last so long?' I say, 'I stay going.' You know, there's a lot to be said about that. So we're not in each other's face all the time."

She continued that she and her husband would have "things we love to do together" despite him not being in show-business. "It was meant to be, he was the one," she explained. "He's not in the business, so we have different interests, but yet we have the things we love to do together. So it was meant to be, I think. He was the one I was supposed to have and and vice versa," she said. 

The singer reportedly met Dean at a laundromat in Nashville in 1964. There was instant attraction between the two and they were married two years later. In July 2021, the singer surprised her husband when she recreated her 1978 Playboy cover and wore the infamous white tie and strapless black bunny suit on his 79th birthday, as per Daily Mail. Earlier in 2022, she said, "I thought, 'Well, I'll just go surprise my husband and just cook breakfast for him in my bunny suit.' He got a kick out of it, and evidently a few other people did, too!" 

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