Fans Can’t Get Over the Super-Rare Photo Dolly Parton Just Posted of Her Husband, Carl Dean
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Dolly Parton has immaculate taste in clothes, quotes, and music—so it’s no surprise that she found herself a first-rate man, too.
In a photo posted to Instagram on Wednesday, the Queen of Country offered her followers a rare treat: a photo of her husband of 55 years, businessman Carl Dean, who, despite his wife’s superstardom, has rarely been photographed since they tied the knot. “Find you a partner who will support you like my Carl Dean does!” Parton, 75, captioned the post.
Although the picture, which appears to be from decades ago, is most definitely edited—Dean is wearing a vintage-inspired shirt that’s currently available on Parton’s online store, and the original was previously posted on Parton’s site—it’s still a welcome look into the lasting relationship between a country icon and her most loyal supporter. (But, Dean reportedly isn’t the biggest fan of his wife’s music—that’s another story, though.)
The superstar’s husband has only been photographed a few times over the course of their marriage. It's no secret he’s got some pretty impressive camera-dodging skills—so understandably, people are freaking out in the comments of the post.
“Carl Dean is super handsome!❤️🔥❤️👍,” one fan wrote. Another put it a little more bluntly: “Carl is a hottie.” “Hahaha the queen of photoshop! ❤️ Y’all are adorable. I think this may be the first time I’ve seen a picture of Carl Dean!” another commented.
Parton and Dean met on the first day she moved to Nashville when she was just 18 years old, right outside of the Wishy Washy Laundromat, according to the “I Will Always Love You” singer’s site. She told W last month that she had “a lot of boys” in her life before meeting Dean—and that after meeting him, she never looked back. The pair married in the spring of 1966 and the rest, as they say, is history.
“My first thought was, ‘I’m gonna marry that girl,’” Dean told Entertainment Tonight in 2016, on the occasion of their 50-year wedding anniversary. “My second thought was, ‘Lord, she’s good lookin.’ And that was the day my life began. I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.”
Because of Dean’s limited public presence, some have speculated that he isn’t actually real—but that’s (of course) not true. “A lot of people have thought that through the years, because he does not want to be in the spotlight at all,” Parton told Entertainment Tonight last year. “It’s just not who he is. He’s like, a quiet, reserved person, and he figured if he ever got out there in that, he’d never get a minute’s peace—and he’s right about that.”
“I’ve always respected and appreciated that in him, and I’ve always tried to keep him out of the limelight as much as I can,” she continued. “He said, ‘I didn’t choose this world. I chose you, and you chose that world. But we can keep our lives separate and together.’ And we do and we have.” (We know, we're swooning, too.)
“We’re completely opposite, but that’s what makes it fun. I never know what he’s gonna say or do. He’s always surprising me,” Parton told People in 2015. “He’s independent. He doesn’t need me in his face, and it’s the same with me. But when we’re together, we have enough things in common that it works.”
After getting through quarantine together, and 55 years of marriage, these two are the epitome of goals. We wish the pair a lifelong of happiness, and hope to catch another, perhaps more recent, glimpse of Dean sometime soon!
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