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Dolly Parton‘s husband, Carl Dean, was last seen in public in December 2019 in Brentwood, Tennessee, a little more than five years before his death.
Parton announced via Instagram that her husband of nearly 59 years died on Monday, March 3. He was 82.
“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,” the post read.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice t the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” Parton’s post continued. “The family asks for privacy during this difficult time.”
Dean was last seen in December 2019 when he stepped out near the family’s estate on Brentwood, Tennessee. The image of the then-77-year-old Dean, who was visiting the post office with an assistant, was the first time he had been photographed in public in four decades.
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Notably, when Parton began to rise to fame in the late 1960s, Dean stayed far in the background. He then remained out of the public eye for decades and wasn’t photographed with his superstar wife. She did occasionally share throwback photos of her husband on social media.
“He’s sort of shy and quiet,” she told PEOPLE in a 1977 cover story. She was happy to keep their relationship separate from her work life. “What we have together is so sweet and good that I’d never want it to get jumbled up with the other.”
Throughout their marriage, he stayed primarily at their large home outside of Nashville. “He likes his freedom,” Parton told PEOPLE in 1982. “If I call him, that’s fine, he ain’t expectin’ it. He doesn’t like me home for long because it interferes with his tradin’. So we never really have any hold on each other. And yet we have the ultimate hold.”
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“He’s always supporting me as long as I don’t try to drag him in on it,” she told PEOPLE in 2019. “He’s always been my biggest fan behind the scenes, but he’s at home. I don’t think they’re probably showing much of this on TV and if they do, he might see it.”
In a conversation with PEOPLE in 2021, the singer reflected on over five decades together. “My husband and I, we’ve been together 56 years. We’ve just been married 54 years this past May. But we still have our little times, like in the springtime when the first yellow daffodils come out. Even if there’s still some snow around it, my husband always brings me a bouquet. And he’ll usually write me a little poem. Which to me, that’s priceless.”
