Dolly Parton has explained the reason why her husband refuses to attend award shows with her.
The “9 to 5” singer, 78, has been married to Carl Dean, 82, since 1966, yet the businessman is rarely seen with Parton at any showbiz events.
Parton explained that her husband is a homebody by nature and went to one award show with her at the start of their relationship before promising he would never walk a red carpet again.
Speaking on the Dumb Blonde podcast, Parton said: “He loves music, but he’s not the least bit interested in being in it. And he told me that right up front.”
Recalling the last A-list event they attended together, the country star said Dean started pulling off his suit as soon as they got home.
“He said, ‘Look, now I want you to do everything you want to do, and I wish you the best, but don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain’t going.’ And he never did,” she said.
“We just kinda have that respect, and I respected that because I didn’t know he was gonna be that uneasy, but he doesn’t even like to go out to, you know, to big dinners or anything like that,” Parton added.
The singer explained Dean is a “homebody” which has “worked well” for the couple, who renewed their vows in 2016 at their home in Nashville.
“He loved to go places, if we were gonna drive cross-country or if we had planned a thing,” the singer explained. “But, boy, he never could wait to get home.
“He wanted to be around home, and I’m a gypsy by nature. I just love to go and love to see what else is out there. But, I think...that’s worked well for us.”
It comes shortly after Parton revealed that the secret to her happy marriage to Dean was to spend time apart from her husband.
“I’m just saying, anything new gets old,” she explained. “And I think if you just kind of stay together so much, you just nitpick every little thing and notice all that.”
“It’s worked for us because we both do different things and it’s exciting when we are together,” Parton added. “So, the fact that there’s some little space makes it exciting when you go home.”
This isn’t the first time that Parton has opened up about her keys to a long-lasting marriage.
During an interview with ET Canada in 2020, the “Jolene” singer described how she and her husband’s similar senses of humor have kept their relationship so strong.
“I think humor, honestly, is one of the best things when you’re married like that,” she said.
“Even if you have a problem, if you have a great sense of humor, if you say something you can’t take back [you] usually have some crazy way of getting out of it.”
