How Dolly Parton Handled Fans Who Were Salty About Carl Dean's Admirer

Dolly Parton's fans are ride-or-die, so it's no surprise many of them felt some type of way about the origins of her iconic song "Jolene." However, the country legend was quick to allay their concerns (and remind them that she was the real winner in the situation). The real inspiration behind "Jolene" was a bank teller who Dean began spending a lot of time with early on in their marriage, and who Parton told NPR had developed, "A terrible crush on my husband." Dean enjoyed the attention, responding by going to the bank way more frequently, which his wife understandably didn't appreciate. 

Although the official reason for Dean's many visits was to try secure a loan for his asphalt paving business, the singer-songwriter joked on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" that she put a stop to it real quick. "I said, 'Look, you can talk to some of these men on that [...] You better get your butt out to the house, or it's gonna be your a** and your fault,'" Parton quipped. Naturally, the singer-songwriter did more than tell Dean to quit going to the bank so much, and the track loosely based on the situation became one of the most defining hits of her career. 

Still, fans were a little salty when she performed "Jolene" at the 2014 Glastonbury Festival, even booing her husband and the banker when she recounted the inspiration for it. Ever the class act, Parton responded by acknowledging that if anything, she owed the would-be other woman her thanks for contributing to her incredible net worth. "Something good can come from anything. Had it not been for that woman I would never have written 'Jolene' and I wouldn't have made all that money, so thank you, Jolene," Parton jested (via The Independent). 

It's worth noting that in addition to Dolly Parton playfully shouting out the bank teller who inspired "Jolene" for making her so much money, she has also long made it clear that she never believed Carl Dean would do anything to jeopardize their relationship. In her 1994 autobiography "Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business," the country icon noted, "I believe with all my heart that I am the only woman Carl has ever been intimate with." The "I Will Always Love You" hitmaker also pointed out during a 1982 interview with ABC News that both she and Dean had flirty sides and that they were totally okay with it. "He knows I'm a flirt, I know he's a flirt, and it's not a threat to us," she shrugged. 

Parton touched on the subject again in 2014, with The Irish Mirror, addressing rumors that either one of them had ever had an affair and sharing more insight into their oft-talked about "open" marriage as she did. "He's not jealous and I'm not jealous [...] It's an open relationship, but NOT sexually and I would kill him if I thought he was doing that. He would shoot me too. At the end of the day we love each other madly," she explained. 

As for the "Jolene" debacle, while Parton admitted to NPR that she'd felt some insecurity over the situation (which most women could relate to, hence the song's popularity), even that hadn't really upset her too much. "It was kinda like a running joke between us," the Grammy winner reasoned, adding, "It's really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one." Still, either way, Parton came out of it the winner so fans can relax.