Dolly Parton announced the tragic news on Monday that her longtime husband Carl Thomas Dean had died at the age of 82.
In a statement posted to Instagram, the legendary country songstress revealed that her husband had died earlier on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee.
Dolly wrote that she and Carl had ‘spent many wonderful years together,’ and the two had been happily married for nearly 60 years.
However, their union has been a complete mystery even to many of the 79-year-old singer’s biggest fans.
Although Dolly has been known for years for her bubbly personality and forays beyond music into acting, her husband tended to operate behind the scenes, leaving her to be the public face for the couple.
Now, DailyMail.com takes a look inside Dolly and Carl’s intensely private marriage.
DailyMail.com takes a look inside Dolly Parton’s intensely private marriage to her late husband Carl Thomas Dean after his death at 82
Dolly revealed in a statement on Monday that her husband Carl, whom she had been married to for nearly 60 years, had died earlier in the day in Nashville
Dolly and Carl’s meet-cute in Nashville
The 9 To 5 singer first met her future husband in a place most wouldn’t peg as a hotbed of romance — the laundromat.
But both Dolly and Carl described the fateful meeting in 1964 as love at first sight in later interviews.
‘I’d come to Nashville with dirty clothes,’ she told the New York Times. ‘I was in such a hurry to get here — and after I’d put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin’ down the street, just lookin’ at my new home, and this guy hollered at me, and I waved. Bein’ from the country, I spoke to everybody.’
Dolly said she had a feeling that the mystery man approaching her would become a major figure in her life.
‘He came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband,’ she declared.
When the couple renewed their wedding vows for their 50th anniversary in 2016, Carl made it clear that he was just as entranced by Dolly when they met.
‘My first thought was I’m gonna marry that girl,’ he told Entertainment Tonight. ‘My second thought was, “Lord she’s good lookin.'” And that was the day my life began.’
Dolly and Carl began dating the same year, but it was difficult to find time together, as she was living with her aunt and uncle and didn’t want to bring him in the house while she was baby sitting her young cousin.
One day when she wasn’t on babysitting duty, she went over to Carl’s house to spend time with him
‘That was my first chance to go anywhere with Carl, and he drove me straight to his folks’ house and introduced me to his mother and daddy,’ she told the New York Times in 1976. ”Cause he said he knew right the minute he saw me that that’s the one he wanted.’
Dolly and Carl both described a laundromat meet-cute in 1964 that was love at first sight. They began dating that year, and he proposed in 1966
The happy couple were married later that year
Carl and Dolly get married
Around two years after they started dating, Carl proposed to Dolly.
Although she was over the moon, the songstress later recalled that her manager at the time thought being engaged, and then married, could harm her career at that early stage.
Although she decided against a large wedding because of his warning, she and Carl were still determined to get married, so they opted to tie the knot with just the pastor of Ringgold Baptist Church in Ringgold, Georgia, officiating.
The only witnesses to the low-key ceremony on May 30, 1966, were the pastor’s wife and Dolly’s mother, she told Local 3 News in Tennessee in 2012.
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