Dolly parton husband and children
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She told Lauer that kids are just drawn to her, just like everyone else is, and she credits her large family and her appearance for that. They got married two years later but never had children together — a decision Parton has opened up about over time.
“Since I had no kids, and my husband was pretty independent, I had freedom,” Parton said in a November 2020 episode of Oprah Winfrey’s Apple TV+ talk show, “The Oprah Conversation.”
“So I think a big part of my whole success is the fact that I was free to work,” she explained.
Dolly Parton revealed why she never had kids with husband Carl Dean before his death
Carl Dean was Dolly Parton’s soulmate. "I have that high-pitched voice ... Now we don't have kids to worry about,'" she told Billboard. I look like Mother Goose or one of those over-exaggerated characters, and kids just relate to that," she said.
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Why Dolly Parton + Her Husband Carl Dean Never Had Kids
Dolly Parton and her husband Carl Dean were married for nearly six decades by the time he died on March 3, 2025.
However, they never had children.
It wasn't always their plan to remain childfree: In a 2014 interview with Billboard, Parton said that she and Dean originally expected they'd have kids.
"Early on, when my husband and I were dating, and then when we got married, we just assumed we would have kids," she explained.
In 1984, she was diagnosed with endometriosis. "We weren't doing anything to stop it. Read on to hear the stories of 11 singers who never had kids.
Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak
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And according to Parton, that's the way it was meant to be.Related Stories
In an interview with the Today show from 2017, Parton talked to host Matt Lauer to promote her first children's album, I Believe in You.
The family asks for privacy during this difficult time.”
Dean’s cause of death has not been disclosed.
Dolly Parton Shared the Heartfelt Reason She and Carl Dean Never Had Children
Country legend Dolly Parton is beloved by listeners of all ages, but despite her large family (she was one of 12 children!) and her strong bond with kids, she and husband Carl Dean, who passed away on March 3, have never had children of their own.
He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. Or would they be little squats like me?’ If we’d had a girl, she was gonna be called Carla,” Parton shared.
“Anyway, we talked about it, and we dreamed it, but it wasn’t meant to be. Would they be tall because he’s tall?
“I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.”
Dean’s death was revealed on Parton’s Instagram on Monday.
“Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away March 3 in Nashville at the age of 82. “Everything would have changed. We even had names if we did, but it didn't turn out that way."
- In that interview, the singer didn't elaborate more on what factors played into the fact they never conceived.
- Elsewhere, she has spoken openly about some health struggles, including an endometriosis diagnosis.
- According the World Health Organization (WHO), endometriosis is a disease in which "tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus." It can cause severe pain, and complicate fertility.
Read More: Here's the Real Reason You Never Saw Dolly Parton's Late Husband in Public
In her 2017 book Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton, the singer said she was 35 "when I first got sick," explaining she suffered from "stomach problems and female problems" along with a host of other issues.
Because I would’ve felt guilty about that, if I’d have left them [to work, to tour],” said Parton. Now we don't have kids to worry about,'" Parton explained in 2014.
11 Country Stars Who Never Had Children
During the interview, Parton said fate led her to be a mother to everyone instead of just a mother to her own children. I probably wouldn’t have been a star.”
Dean rarely ever spoke about his relationship with Parton, though he made an exception when he gave an interview to Entertainment Tonight in 2016.
“My first thought was ‘I’m gonna marry that girl.’ My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good looking.’ And that was the day my life began,” he said of meeting Parton.
She also works with kids through her charity Imagination Library, which has provided hundreds of millions of free books to young children. Now that we’re older?