Why Dolly Parton Has No Regrets About Choosing Not To Have Children With Husband Carl Dean
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Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Dean, have one of Hollywood’s most enduring unions after 57 years of marriage. It’s proof that she and Dean have prioritized their private life together despite her time on the road to support her successful career. Yet even at the age of 77, Parton still gets asked about her choice not to have children.
In her era, it was expected that women would settle down, get married, and start a family. In 2023, many people are choosing not to have kids for a variety of reasons, but Parton was definitely defying society’s expectation after getting married in 1966. Decades later, Parton is doubling down on having no regrets about her decision to Saga Exceptional magazine, and why it was the right choice for her and Dean.
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“I haven’t missed it like I thought I might,” Parton revealed. “When you’re a young couple, you think you’re going to have kids, but it just wasn’t one of those burning things for me. I had my career and my music and I was traveling.” The country superstar knows she would have been a great mother, but her life would have looked much different.
“If I’d had kids, I’d have stayed home with them, I’m sure, and worried myself to death about them,” she added. “With everything that’s going on, I’d hate to be bringing a child into this world right now.” But she has found a way to nurture her maternal instincts with her Imagination Library, which is a global book-gifting program to give free books to children from birth until they start school — and she has a sweet way of framing her philanthropy. “I always say God didn’t let me have children so that all kids could be mine,” Parton said.
Parton has voiced her opinion on the hot topic before, telling Mojo magazine earlier this fall, “I’m almost glad I never had children.” She continued, “I worry myself to death about my little nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews. My husband and I, we just think of ourselves as each other’s child. He’s my only child, and I’m his only child.”
She’s helped normalize the decision to remain childless. It’s a choice that she and Dean made, and they have no regrets. It’s important to have the public conversation and quiet the discourse because motherhood isn’t every person’s life goal — and Parton carved that path for herself and many others.
Before you go, click here to see celebrities who have opened up about not having kids.
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