Dolly Parton is opening up about her “homebody” husband, Carl Thomas Dean.
On the Monday, Dec. 9 episode of Bunnie Xo’s Dumb Blonde podcast, the country music icon, 78, revealed her notoriously private husband, 82, refuses to attend award shows with her.
“He loves music, but he’s not the least bit interested in being in it. And he told me that right up front,” the “9 to 5” singer told the wife of Jelly Roll.
“I begged him to go with me in ‘67. We’d got married in ‘66. So, that’s when I won the first award for the BMI song of the year,” she said, referring to her 1966 hit “Put it Off Until Tomorrow.”
“And I rented him a tux and, you know, begged him to go, and he did,” added Parton. “And, oh, he was so uncomfortable the whole night.”
The “Jolene” singer continued, adding that as soon as they got home from the event, “He started pulling off stuff.”
“He said, ‘Look, now I want you to do everything you want to do, and I wish you the best, but don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain’t going.’ And he never did,” she recalled.
“So we just kinda have that respect, and I respected that because I didn’t know he was gonna be that uneasy, but he doesn’t even like to go out to, you know, to big dinners or anything like that,” Parton told Bunnie, 44.
The couple, who renewed their vows in 2016 at their home in Nashville, have been married for 58 years.
“He was a homebody, and that worked well for us…I don’t know if anybody out there that goes by astrology or pays attention to that. But he’s Cancer and I’m Capricorn, and those are compatible signs,” said the country icon. “He loved to go places, if we were gonna drive cross-country or if we had planned a thing. But, boy, he never could wait to get home.”
“He wanted to be around home, and I’m a gypsy by nature. I just love to go and love to see what else is out there. But, I think…that’s worked well for us,” Parton said.
In 2018, the Grammy Award-winner told PEOPLE in a cover story exclusive, “I always joke and laugh when people ask me what’s the key to my long marriage and lasting love. I always say ‘Stay gone!’ and there’s a lot of truth to that. I travel a lot, but we really enjoy each other when we’re together and the little things we do.”
