Dolly Parton’s six-decade love story with Carl Dean began at a laundromat

Dolly Parton lived much of her life in the spotlight, but her greatest love story unfolded almost entirely away from it. The country music legend, who died on Tuesday at the age of 80 after a "brief battle with cancer," was married for almost 60 years to her late husband Carl Dean. Parton's death comes less than 18 months after she lost Dean, who died in March 2025 at age 82. While announcing her passing, her nephew Bryan Seaver shared their family's belief that she had been reunited with the ma