Dolly Parton’s husband Carl Dean has died at the age of 82. The two were married for nearly 60 years.
No cause of death has been revealed, but a statement posted on Dolly’s Instagram page reads, “Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82. He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He is survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie.”
Dolly herself added, “Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
Parton and Dean met at a laundromat in Nashville when the singer was just 18 years old. They married two years later on May 30th, 1966, in Ringgold, Georgia.
Dean kept mostly private throughout Dolly’s decades of fame. He was a businessman who at one point owned an asphalt-paving company in Nashville.
In an interview with Associated Press in 1984, Parton quipped, “A lot of people say there’s no Carl Dean, that he’s just somebody I made up to keep other people off me.”
Dean and Parton never had children. He is survived by Parton, and his siblings Sandra and Donnie.
This is a developing story…
