Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Dean, have been married for more than 56 years, and their relationship is still going strong. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member met Dean at a laundromat in 1964 — on her first day in Nashville — and wed two years later, when she was just 20 years old. Their marriage has weathered plenty of highs and lows, including her extended absences thanks to her busy career, which is what Parton attributes to their lengthy marriage.
“I like it when people say, ‘How did it last so long?’ I say, ‘I stay going,’” Parton told ET Canada. “You know, there’s a lot to be said about that. So we’re not in each other’s face all the time. 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.”
When they are together, Parton and Dean enjoy a lot of the same things, including making each other laugh.
“We both have a warped sense of humor,” Parton says. “And I think humor, honestly, is one of the best things when you’re married like that. 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,”
The 76-year-old previously said that both of their easygoing natures also contributed to their longevity.
“We’ve never bickered back and forth because I never wanted us to say bad things that we would have to remember,” Parton said (via People). “We get a little pissy now and then, but we’ll just kind of walk off or go do something else and let that die down. You have to work at anything. Marriage is a business too, and you got to look at it like that. You got to make the right decisions for all the little things that come up.”
Parton and Dean will have to get used to spending more time together, since she recently revealed she would no longer spend a lot of time on the road touring anymore.
“I do not think I will ever tour again, but I do know I’ll do special shows here and there, now and then,” Parton told Pollstar. “Maybe do a long weekend of shows, or just a few shows at a festival. But I have no intention of going on a full-blown tour anymore. I’ve done that my whole life, and it takes so much time and energy.”
Parton is currently working on a rock and roll album. She will release a children’s book, Billy the Kid Makes it Big, in April.