How Dolly Parton And Her Husband Keep Their ‘Lives Separate’ While Remaining Married

Country music legend Dolly Parton is setting the record straight about her 54-year marriage to Carl Dean, revealing that he is, in fact, real and he exists-just out of the spotlight.

"I've always respected and appreciated that in him and I've always tried to keep him out of the limelight as much as I can," she told Entertainment Tonight. "He said, 'I didn't choose this world, I chose you, and you chose that world. But we can keep our lives separate and together.' And we do and we have. We've been together 56 years, married 54."

Dean and Parton married on May 30, 1966, when Parton was 20 years old and on the cusp of stardom. Dean is now retired from an asphalt business he ran in Nashville.

Because Dean does not travel with Parton on the road or during celebrity appearances, Parton said there is a myth that he might not exist.

“A lot of people have thought that through the years, because he does not want to be in the spotlight at all,” she said.

Parton prides herself on her southern heritage, though she’s been adamant about avoiding stereotypes associated with the region’s Confederate past. Speaking to Billboard in August, the “Jolene” singer weighed in on the national conversation about race relations.

“I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen,” the 74-year-old said. “And of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white [expletive] are the only ones that matter? No!”

Despite her high-profile persona, Parton said she and Dean do enjoy their private lives together.

"We have very similar tastes,” she said. “... we love to travel around our little RV, and we don't like parties and all that stuff."