Dolly Parton 'carries a lot of guilt' for not spending enough time with husband Carl Dean before he died

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: Dolly Parton spent decades touring and dazzling audiences worldwide. But while she was out on the road, her late husband Carl Dean stayed back home, far away from the limelight.

Now, as the country queen grieves after his death at the age of 82 on Monday, March 3, an insider shared that she regretted not spending enough time with the love of her life. 

Dolly Parton wanted to spend more time with husband Carl Dean

"Dolly carries a lot of guilt she didn't get to spend enough time with Carl during their marriage," an insider spilled about the couple, who had been together since 1966.

Parton's late husband was never one for the flashing lights and big crowds. "Carl was a real homebody who never liked attention," the source continued, as quoted by OK! Magazine. "He's only attended three of her concerts," they added.

While Dolly, now 79, was splitting her time between Los Angeles and Nashville, Dean stayed at their Brentwood estate in Tennessee while battling Alzheimer’s. The insider revealed that at certain points in their marriage, "they only saw each other eight weeks in a whole calendar."

But in his final days, Parton was determined to make up for lost time. "Dolly feels her place in life is with Carl now, to love him and to help him during these dark days," a source said in 2022. "She'll never forget the love and support he gave her — even if his memories of her fade away."

Parton broke the sad news about her husband's death via Instagram on March 3, in an emotional message. "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," she wrote.

A statement alongside her post added, "He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He was survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie." 

Dolly Parton and Carl Dean's love story began at a laundromat

Dolly Parton and Carl Dean never had children, but their love story was one for the ages. It all started when an 18-year-old Parton had just moved to Nashville. And she apparently met her future husband at a laundromat in the city.

"I was in such a hurry to get here — and after I'd put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin' down the street, just lookin' at my new home, and this guy hollered at me, and I waved," she told The New York Times in 1976. "Bein' from the country, I spoke to everybody. And he came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband."

It was an instant connection, but Parton played it cool. She recalled on her personal website that she was struck by how Dean looked at her.

"I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me)," she admitted. "He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about."

At first, she didn’t even agree to go on a proper date with him. Instead, she invited him to sit with her on her aunt and uncle's porch.

"He came up every day that week, and we set out on the porch. I wouldn't even take him in the house," she said. "Then my aunt got a day off… and that was my first chance to go anywhere with Carl, and he drove me straight to his folks’ house and introduced me to his mother and daddy. Cause he said he knew right the minute he saw me that that’s the one he wanted.”

The couple tied the knot in 1966, and they renewed their vows in 2016 for their 50th wedding anniversary. That year, Dean gave a rare interview to Entertainment Tonight.

"My first thought was, 'I'm gonna marry that girl,'" he said of that first moment he saw Parton. "My second thought was, 'Lord, she's good lookin.'"

He added, "And that was the day my life began. I wouldn't trade the last 50 years for nothing on this Earth."

Carl Dean stayed out of the spotlight

For all the glitz and glam of Dolly Parton’s career, Carl Dean remained her quiet, behind-the-scenes rock. "We're the perfect partners," she gushed to Us Weekly in 2022.

"We both have a great sense of humor," she explained. "We're able to, like, solve any problems and any situation, making a joke about it and not letting it get too heavy, but we respect each other, and we like each other. We lucked up, let's put it that way."

But Dean's extreme privacy led to a long-running fan theory that he didn’t even exist. "That has led a lot of people to believe that my husband doesn’t exist and that I made him up," Dolly joked in her 2020 memoir 'Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics'.