Dolly Parton’s stark confession about retirement concerning husband Carl Dean’s health

Dolly Parton and Carl Dean have one of the most understated yet loving marriages in the entertainment industry, boasting nearly six decades of marital bliss.

Dolly, 78, and Carl, 82, have been married since 1966, tying the knot in Georgia. The couple keep their personal life out of the spotlight, with Carl largely shunning the public eye.

The singer has often spoken about her deep love for her husband and their affectionate and intimate relationship which has stood the test of time, and it extends to her work as well.

Dolly has mentioned several times that she does not intend to retire from her work anytime soon, saying she hopes and plans to continue working on at least something or the other while she’s healthy and able.

However, at the recent CMA Fest in Nashville, she did express that there is only one thing that would convince her to retire, and that is health — whether it’s hers or, more importantly, Carl’s.

“I’ve always said that if my husband was in ill health or needed me, I would most definitely pull way back,” she said per Entertainment Tonight, adding that she would consider taking a break from her work if her own health necessitated it, but not a full stop.

“As I mentioned before, I’ve kind of dreamed myself into a corner and I’ve got to be responsible for that,” Dolly continued. “I’ll always be doing something, but I may pull back a little bit here and there, now and then.”

Dolly has been open about her own health challenges, which include a battle with endometriosis in the ’80s that required two surgeries and a partial hysterectomy, which plunged her into a depressive state at the time.

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Not much is known about Carl’s own health. It was reported in 2022 that Dolly was taking a step back from her work to care for her husband after he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2019. However neither party has spoken on the matter and there’s been no such confirmation of the diagnosis.

In a previous conversation with the publication, she explained what she believed to be the secret to her long marriage — communication. “I think I’ve talked pretty much about everything through the years with Carl, and we’re different people. But we just work so well together.” 

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“He’s kind of a loner so he doesn’t really like being with anybody but me, when I’m home — I mean, he’s not one to kind of get out there and socialize that much,” she explained. 

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“He loves living on the farm, taking care of the property as he has for all these many years, and then, we just have a lot to talk about,” Dolly gushed, emphasizing that she enjoys working close to home in order to spend as much time with him as possible.

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She expanded upon their shared love for laughter, despite music not being one of their mutual interests, saying: “He loves music ,but he’s not in the music business at all, so we have different things to talk about, his world and my world, and we work really well together.”

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“We have a lot of love and respect for each other, and I think the key to all of it — we both have a crazy, warped sense of humor, so we have a lot of fun.”