Dolly Parton Clings to Faith After Husband’s Death: ‘Going to See Him Again’

Published: June 3, 2025

By Kayla DeKraker

Dolly Parton leans on the Lord as she continues to mourn the death of Carl Dean, her husband of nearly 60 years, knowing that they will meet again.

“I am a person of faith, and I truly believe that I’m going to see him again someday,” she told AP News of the hope she has. “And I see him every day in my memories and in my heart, and in all the things that we used to do and all the things that we’ve built together. You just kind of have to learn to kind of make new plans — but that’s the hardest part.”

Dean died on March 3, 2025.

“I really feel his presence,” Parton continued. “I just try to go on, because I know I have to. And he was ill for quite a while, and part of me was at peace that he was at peace and not suffering anymore. But that still doesn’t make up for the loss and the loneliness of it.”

Parton and Dean married on May 30, 1966. The couple eloped due to a record label asking Parton to put her wedding on hold, and just her mother, Avie Lee, and the preacher and his wife attended the ceremony.

Even after 10 Grammys and a majorly successful career, Parton still doesn’t think of herself as a superstar, but her husband did.

“I don’t think about my life in terms of ‘superstar.’ I’m just a workin’ girl. I always say — and it’s the truth — that I am a workhorse that looks like a show horse,” she said.

She added, “But I gotta keep it all up and I enjoy all of it. …My husband always said, ‘If anybody was ever born to be a star, it’s you.’ Because he sees me loving to do all the things and playing and stuff — it’s play time for me. But I take it very serious.”

When Dean passed away in March, Parton took to Instagram to share a song she penned especially for him called “If You Hadn’t Been There.”

“I fell in love with Carl Dean when I was 18 years old,” she wrote. “We have spent 60 precious and meaningful years together. Like all great love stories, they never end. They live on in memory and song. He will always be the star of my life story, and I dedicate this song to him.”