By Movieguide® Staff
Dolly Parton and her late husband Carl Dean had a wonderful marriage, but the country singer shared that one of her songs details a rough time early on in their relationship.
“I had had sex before we met, but I hadn’t mentioned it, and he hadn’t asked,” the country singer explained to Rolling Stone. “We were married for eight months, happy as we could be, and all of a sudden, he decides to ask. I told him the truth, and it broke his heart. He could not get over that for the longest time. I thought, ‘Well, my goodness, what’s the big…deal?’”
Parton used that time in their marriage as inspiration for a verse in the 1968 song “Just Because I’m A Woman” — “I can see you’re disappointed, by the way you look at me. And I’m sorry that I’m not the woman you thought I’d be. Yes, I’ve made my mistakes, but listen and understand. My mistakes are no worse than yours, just because I’m a woman.”
Related: Dolly Parton Clings to Faith After Husband’s Death: ‘Going to See Him Again’
Parton and Dean were married for 60 years. He died last year at the age of 82.
“I fell in love with Carl Dean when I was 18 years old,” the country singer said in a statement following his death. “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.”
In a recent appearance on Khloé Kardashian’s podcast, Parton shared that she has not felt motivated to write new songs in the wake of Dean’s death.
“Several things I’ve wanted to start, but I can’t do it,” she explained. “I will later, but I’m just coming up with such wonderful, beautiful ideas. But I think I won’t finish it…I can’t do it right now because I’ve got so many other things that I can’t afford the luxury of getting that emotional right now. So there are times like that, things like that that will start here a little bit, but I’ll write something else, though, if it comes. So I’m just putting that all on hold.”
Parton recently wished her fans a happy new year, saying in an Instagram video, “As we say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, I want to wish each and every one of you a year filled with happiness and more blessings than you can count.”
Parton’s marriage to Dean might have been rocked by the revelation that she had not waited until marriage, but the couple ultimately overcame it and continued to love each other for decades after.
Read Next: Dolly Parton Details ‘Big Adjustment’ Following Husband’s Death
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