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On March 3, country icon Dolly Parton revealed that her husband of 58 years, Carl Dean, had died at the age of 82 in their hometown of Nashville. While USA Today shared Carl’s cause of death wasn’t made public, Dolly shared a personal statement expressing what he meant to her throughout their decades-long relationship.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,” she said in a statement, per her official Instagram. “Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
As many rushed to the comments to send their condolences to Dolly and her family, Good Morning America host Robin Roberts couldn’t help but share her own feelings about Dolly’s loss.
Ahead of taping the March 4 episode of GMA, Robin went on X (formerly Twitter) to voice how Dolly had opened up about a private moment in her marriage in various interviews over the years.
“Thinking of Dolly Parton this morning,” she emotionally wrote. “Her husband of almost 60 years, Carl Dean passed away at the age of 82. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Dolly over the years and at times she’s shared a glimpse into her relationship with her husband… and we’ll have more coming up on @GMA.”
Later that morning, ABC resurfaced a clip of Robin’s interview with Dolly from 2019. In it, Dolly reveals the sweet way she met Carl. “There was a laundromat down from my little apartment where I was going to be staying. So the very day I go down to the laundromat, this good-looking man just drives by, and he says something like ‘well, you’re going to get sunburn out here,’ and I say something stupid like, ‘well, what’s it to you?'” Dolly shared. “So we start talking, and two years later, we married, and we’re still married, and that was that.”
While Carl was famous for not attending any of Dolly’s events with her, he did share how meeting his wife changed who he was forever.
“My first thought was ‘I’m gonna marry that girl,'” he told Entertainment Tonight in 2016. “My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin.’ And that was the day my life began.”
Our hearts go out to Dolly at this time.
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