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Dolly Parton Once Admitted Life Wouldn’t Be ‘Worth Living’ Without Husband Carl Dean Before Her Death
More than 40 years before the death of her beloved husband, Carl Dean, Dolly Parton revealed just how difficult she believed it would be to go on without him.
“What I fear most is getting a phone call when I’m alone and hearing, ‘Carl’s dead,'” the Steel Magnolias star exclusively told the National Enquirer in a 1984 interview.
“Right then, with no one around, I know that I’d decide that life isn’t worth living, and would end it all,” Parton continued. “I could never face the loss of the man I love alone.”
The “Jolene” singer and Dean got married in 1966 when they eloped in a private ceremony in Georgia. The two remained married up until Dean’s death at the age of 82 in March 2025.
Parton died a little over a year later on Tuesday, August 25, after a brief battle with cancer, but the type of cancer was not disclosed. She was 80 years old.
Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, announced her passing in a video shared to Instagram that same day and said that Parton had given him the task of revealing the sad news to her fans years earlier.
“Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest,” he continued.
Parton’s publicist also confirmed her death and said in a statement to the Associated Press that she died “peacefully” in Nashville.
