Dolly Parton thanks well wishers as she honors late husband Carl Dean
(CNN) — Dolly Parton says she is grateful for those who have reached out since her husband Carl Dean died earlier this week.
Dean, who was married to Parton for nearly 60 years, died on Monday in Nashville. He was 82.
“Thank you for all the messages, cards, and flowers that you’ve sent to pay your respects for the loss of my beloved husband Carl,” Parton wrote on her Instagram page on Thursday. “I can’t reach out personally to each of you but just know it has meant the world to me.”
Parton added that Dean “is in God’s arms now and I am okay with that.”
“I will always love you,” she added.
The country star announced Dean’s death in a statement posted to her Instagram page earlier this week, writing that she and Dean “spent many wonderful years together.”
“Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” Parton added.
No cause of death has been announced.
Parton and Dean met in Nashville when she was 18 years old, according to the AP, and wed in 1966.
While Parton is a well-known country superstar, Dean stayed mostly out of the limelight and, for the most part, the pair kept their relationship private, too.
Parton previously spoke about how much she loved this dynamic, telling Parade in 2015 that she “married a really good man, a guy that’s completely different from me.”
“He’s not in show business. He’s not resentful of any of that. He loves to hear about the things I do,” Parton said. “I love to hear about the things he does. So we enjoy each other’s company. We get along good. He’s got a great sense of humor.”
Parton added that she and Dean were always “best buddies and best friends and, evidently, it’s working!”
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
