Dolly Parton’s sister Stella has shared new details about the late singer’s long-lasting relationship with her famously private husband, Carl Dean.
The Queen of Country died August 25 at age 80 after a “brief battle with cancer.” She was preceded in death by her husband, who died in March 2025 at age 82.
Dolly and Carl eloped in 1966 and remained together until his death. Their relationship was largely kept under wraps due to his private nature, though she would offer up bits of information about their marriage every so often in an interview.
Now, her sister, Stella, has provided some insight into their relationship just weeks after Dolly’s death.
“He adored her,” Stella said of Carl in a new interview with Gayle King that aired Thursday on CBS Mornings. “He was fascinated with her. He thought she was funny like Tinkerbell,” she continued, adding that he was “quiet and shy.”
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open image in galleryStella recalled being with Dolly and Carl in 1967 at the BMI Awards where the “Jolene” singer took home her first major award. She went back home with the couple and recalled Carl “yanking off his tie” because “he couldn’t stand all that crowd.”
“He said, ‘I’m never doing this again,’” Stella recalled of Carl. “But they had a sweet romance,” she continued.
However, when asked by King if Carl was “encouraging” of Dolly, Stella issued a resounding “no.”
“He didn’t care about that at all. He would’ve rather her be at the house with her hair up in a ponytail, and barefooted cooking in the kitchen and messing around the house. I think that’s what he would’ve preferred,” Stella continued.
King again prodded, asking if Carl was supportive of Dolly, to which Stella replied: “He was proud of her. And he loved her enough to let her be what she was. That’s how I see it.”
After Carl died in March 2025, many suspected that Dolly was brokenhearted.
open image in gallery“I think she was very sad,” Stella said in response to those concerns. “But I don’t think that’s why she got sick. I think she worked too hard and didn’t, maybe, take as good of care of herself as she should’ve.
“I know their relationship was very unique and very deep and loyal, and I think it broke her heart to see him in the shape he got to before he passed away,” she continued. “But I don’t think that’s what made her sick. I think my sister worked so hard for so long and just kept going.”
Dolly was laid to rest in a private funeral — something she had made clear she wanted before her death, the singer’s team shared in a statement.
That service was held August 28 at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville. She was buried next to Carl.