Good golly, MissDolly
Singer revealsre the secret to successful marriage and why she plans to pose for mag after 42 years
QUEEN of country musicc Dolly Parton went from extreme treme poverty to being one of the richest and most famous mous entertainers in the world.
But her biggest success is her marriage to Carl Thomas Dean – a union that has lasted 54 years.
While many of her songs likee I Will Always Love You, Jolene, ne, Love Is Like a Butterf ly and d You’re The Only One are tinged d with loss, Dolly’s man has always s been by her side.
The 74-year-old said: “I have been married for 54 years this year. That’s a long time. It’s more than most people live!
“My husband and I have alwaysys had a great friendship.
“We’re both funny. We both have a great, warped sense of humour, so we always have a good time.
“He’s pretty much a loner and a homebody and I’m a gypsy, but when I am home, I love it.
“We don’t do the same thing, so it gives us different stuff to talk about.
“He doesn’t get involved in my business and I don’t get involved in his. We have our own little world that we create for ourselves.
“I have always joked that the reason our marriage has lasted so long is because I stay gone.
“Well, there’s a lot of truth in that. We are not in each other’s face all the time. I think there is a lot to be said about having some sensible separation.”
Carl, now 78, met Dolly outside a laundromat in his hometown Nashville. She was 18.
Two years later, in 1966, the couple tied the knot despite her record label’s displeasure.
Carl, who is retired now, owned a successful asphalt laying company and became a millionaire in his own right.
From the get-go, he told Dolly he didn’t want to be in the spotlight and didn’t like flying. So he stayed at home and they have very rarely been photographed together.
The couple never had children and Dolly admitted they had an open relationship, although she insisted not sexually.
She has been linked with movie co-stars Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone and has told how a broken heart made her contemplate ending her life in the 80s.
However they’ve done it, Carl and Dolly celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2016 with a renewal of their vows.
On May 30 next year, they’ll celebrate their emerald anniversary. But at the start of the year – to mark her 75th birthday in January – she’s considering doing a Playboy shoot. he singer, who was on the magazine’s cover in October 1978 wearing a black bunny suit, said: “I just might do it. If I can do it in good taste.
“We’ll do it along with a really good interview inside. So, yeah, we’ve talked about it.”
But what she really wants for next year is for life to go back to normal after the Covid pandemic.
Dolly might be in the age bracket that should be shielding during the global health crisis but she is desperate for some fun.
She said: “I just want to get out with my friends. I want to go and eat and I
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want to go downd to the seashore. I want to be able to justjus have fun, to be free again and to get back tot being living people.” She addadded: “We will get through it. EverythinEverything has to pass. “TherThere may be some harder days still but I try to keep the faith, be aware, be smart and stay safe.” DolDolly, the fourth of 12 children, was born in 1946 on her parents’ small farm in Sevier County, Tennessee. Her dad Lee grew tobacco and raised livelivestock with his wife Avie Lee. TThe singer is proud of her ScoScottish roots. She traced her LowLowland farmer ancestors back to ththe 17th century. They emigrated to UlsterU and then to the foothills of ththe Smoky Mountains. In a past interview she said: “You can claim Dolly Parton as one of your own. I have some Scottish blooblood coursing through those TenneTennessee veins.” WrWriting her first song at five, makinmaking her radio debut at 10 and gettingetting a record deal at 19, Dolly first found success in country music before becombecoming a mainstream hit. She also became a film star in the 80s, starringsta and singing the theme tune in 9 to 5 and being nominated for a GoldeGolden Globe for The Best Little WhorehouseWhoreho in Texas. She alwaysalway dreamed big and opened her own amusemamusement park, Dollywood, in 1986. She found a whole new audience when her 1973 sonsong I Will Always Love You was covered by WhitneyW Houston in 1992 film The BodyguaBodyguard, becoming the sixth biggest selling single of all time. AmazinglyAmazingly, Dolly came up with I Will Always Love YouY and Jolene within 24 hours
– something she hadn’t realised until she found a cassette with the songs back-to-back.
She said: “At the time, you write and you don’t know what’s going to be a hit and what is not going to be a hit, so I was shocked that both of those songs were written the same day, or it could have been the same night. “That was a really good night!” 9 to 5: The Musical, based on the film and using her songs, has been a success around the world for over a decade and she even played Glastonbury in 2014. he said: “I’m proud of everything I have ever done. If you can dream it, you can have it. That’s one of my Dolly-isms. “But you can’t just dream it. It ain’t going to happen unless you put legs, wings, feet on it. You have got to make it happen.”
Most recently her songs were made into stories for the Netflix series Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings.
And this month she released A Holly Dolly Christmas, her first festive album since 1984’s Once Upon a Christmas with Kenny Rogers.
It features festive classics alongside original compositions and duets with Miley Cyrus, Michael Buble and Willie Nelson.
The songs will feature in her new festive film, Christmas on the Square, which will be released on Netflix next month.
Dolly said: “I have so many wonderful Christmas memories, most with my family back in the Smoky Mountains.
“We lived in a cabin up in the woods and we didn’t have all of the store-bought stuff that people buy these days. My dad would always take us out in the woods to cut the tree and I just remember us having so much fun making our own Christmas ornaments.
“Mama would tell us the story of Christmas and would be cooking. I have so many wonderful memories of that time.”
SI think there is a lot to be said about having some sensible separation DOLLY PARTON ON SECRET OF HER LONG MARRIAGE