Jordan Karlesson
After singing about love, romance, and heartbreak for more than 65 years, Dolly Parton has advice for any married couple.
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The country music legend told Entertainment Tonight Canada that laughter is the key ingredient to a lasting marriage. And Parton’s wisdom shouldn’t be taken lightly. She’s one of the ultimate authorities on the subject, given her 56-year marriage with Carl Dean.
“We both have a warped sense of humor,” Parton said in the interview, published Thursday. “And I think humor, honestly, is one of the best things when you’re married like that. Even if you have a problem, if you have a great sense of humor, if you say something you can’t take back, [you] usually have some crazy way of getting out of it.”
Dolly Parton married Carl Dean on May 30, 1966.
Parton, 76, doesn’t frequently discuss her marriage with Dean, 80. They prefer their relationship remain predominantly private affair. Still, she opened up a bit more on the subject in the ET Canada interview.
“We’re not in each other’s face all the time,” Parton said. “He’s not in the business, so we have different interests. But yet we have the things we love to do together. So it was meant to be, I think. He was the one I was supposed to have and and vice versa.”
Dolly Parton Knows How to Find Happiness
Parton is notably prolific when it comes to making music. That prolificacy doesn’t extend to her marriage with Dean, as they’ve kept it simple and never had children.
Nevertheless, Parton often surrounds herself with children, finding that — along with music and love — they also bring her joy.
Parton has gifted the younger set with a campaign for children’s literacy, a picture book (Coat of Many Colors), and contributions to children’s hospitals.
“I’m the perfect grandma, [aunt and] babysitter because I don’t have children,” she told The Huffington Post in 2017
