The Heartbreaking 11 Words Dolly Parton Said About Carl Dean Just Months Before Her Passing

Carl Dean passed away the year before Dolly Parton died, but the singer never even entertained the idea of moving on with someone else. In fact, in an interview roughly a year after her husband's passing, Parton shared 11 words that proved he would forever be the only man in her heart. 

"I think Carl Dean's waiting for me on the other side," Parton said during an on-stage discussion at the 2026 season opening of Dollywood (via WBIR Channel 10). The singer had been playfully addressing dating rumors she'd seen, though her voice sounded somewhat emotional as she said that. True to form, though, she perked up again as she shared what she thought might happen if she did marry someone new and Dean found out. "If I should show up at the pearly gates with somebody else, he would not like that. He'd be saying, 'Who's that little pi***r?'" Parton mused to riotous laughter from the audience. 

Parton's sentiments aren't all that surprising when taking into account the things she said about her and Dean's relationship even before he died. For instance, of the long-held rumor that they had an "open" marriage, she memorably told the Irish Mirror in 2014, "Yes, 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." Of course, as it pertained to a potential love triangle at the pearly gates, Parton didn't say there'd be any shooting happening. Instead, she quipped that she thought that after not-so-politely asking who her new man was, he'd likely say something along the lines of, "You leave him outside the gates, and if the Lord wants him in, he'll bring him. You get on in here with me."

Carl Dean may have chosen not to be seen at public events with his wife, but Dolly Parton never shied away from talking or writing about him. Fans may even know she'd written about her fears of death parting them decades before either one of them died. In "Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business," she wrote, "My prayer is that we will die at the same time. ... We'd sure lose a lot if we lost each other." 

One person who believed Parton may have passed away in part because of a broken heart was her friend, singer Margo O'Donnell. In an interview with RTE Radio 1, O'Donnell mentioned that Dean had had memory troubles leading up to his death at the age of 82, which had taken a major toll on the singer. Specifically, O'Donnell explained that Dean had always known who Parton was, though shortly before he died, he lost memory of her as well. "That broke her. And she hasn't really done very well since Carl passed away," O'Donnell said. The Irish country star reiterated that in an interview with Highland Radio as well, telling the host, "Since Carl passed away — and Stella, her sister, said this to me — she hasn't just been the Dolly, the jovial Dolly."

It's safe to say Parton and Dean were soulmates until the very end, and today, they share a final resting place in Nashville, Tennessee. Their deaths are a heartbreaking loss to those who knew them personally and fans alike, but there's no question their love story will live on forever — and as for Dean waiting for Parton at the pearly gates, we have no question about that.