Dolly Parton Shares How She and Carl Dean Keep the Peace in the Kitchen After 55 Years of Marriage
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Although we don’t see Dolly Parton and her husband Carl Dean together often, (Dean intentionally shies away from the country star’s spotlight), it’s perfectly clear that they were meant to be together. After all, the couple will celebrate 56 years of marriage this year.
Parton, 76, not only respects Dean’s boundaries but speaks highly of him every chance she gets. Most recently, she shouted out his cleanly sous chef skills that perfectly balance out her admittedly messy cooking. Even in the kitchen, the pair make an incredible team.
“I’m a messy cooker, and he’s good about cleaning up for me and keeping the stuff cleaned up around me,” Parton told People. “But sometimes I don’t want anybody around, so I’ll just say, ‘Why don’t you go to the den, I’ll clean this up later or you can help me later.’”
Good communication—we love to see it!
Other times, the “Jolene” singer likes for Dean to keep her company while she’s prepping meals—even if he’s not cleaning up. “I like it when he comes. A lot of times he’ll sit and watch me, or he’ll talk,” she said. “He’s a pretty good cook. Not a gourmet cook, but I tour so much he’s always, through the years, had to fix things for himself. So he knows how to do that, but he loves my cooking.”
Parton loves that the kitchen reconnects her to her southern roots, especially when it comes to delicious desserts, which is why she’s launching a line of southern-style cake mixes—Coconut and Banana Puddin’-flavored—in partnership with Duncan Hines. You can pre-order the entire collection (souvenir spatula and tea towel included), or pick up a box when they hit stores in March.
“Growing up poor, we didn’t have a lot of sugar, so we didn’t have cakes all the time,” she explained. “So when Mama made special cakes, we loved being in the kitchen.”
Her taste for southern cooking comes with what Parton calls a “country girl’s appetite,” which she tries to balance with a low-carb diet. “I’m all for indulging as I please, [but] I have to watch it,” she said. “The first thing I want to do when I break it is to have some cake—or potatoes. That’s my weakness. Usually, that’s why I fall off of any diet, is for the love of some sort of a potato.” Celebrities, they’re just like us!
Another “soul food” staple of hers, as she calls it, is breakfast—specifically biscuits and gravy. It’s one of Dean’s favorites, and a morning tradition they enjoy together often.
“I’m a really really good cook,” Parton told Wired in 2020. “My food is not pretty, but it’s good. I cook like my mom, my grandmas, and my aunts. I’m still one of those people that really can cook like the old days … [but] it does have a lot of calories in it. But yes, I love to cook.”
And thankfully, Dean loves to clean. Or he doesn’t mind it, at least! Did Parton just reveal the secret to a happy marriage? We think so (or at least an aspect of it!).
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