Husband of Dolly Parton who has always shunned the limelight is to appear alongside his wife on stage for anniversary celebration

  • Carl Dean has shunned limelight despite his singer wife's global fame
  • But he will appear on stage alongside her after 50 years of marriage 
  • Only 20 photographs have ever been published of the couple together
  • Dolly's god daughter, Miley Cyrus, revealed his impending appearance 

He is known across the world as the man who caught Jolene’s eye.

But Carl Dean, the husband of country singer Dolly Parton, has always shunned the limelight.

Now, after 50 years of marriage, the elusive Mr Dean is set to join his wife on stage next May at a party to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.

Miss Parton, 69, who once described her husband as a ‘tall drink of water’, has become famous for her big hair and bigger voice but, unlike many celebrity spouses, Mr Dean, 73, has stayed in the shadows.

Only 20 photographs have ever been published of the couple together.

After 50 years of marriage, the elusive Carl Dean is set to join his wife on stage next May at a party to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary

After 50 years of marriage, the elusive Carl Dean is set to join his wife on stage next May at a party to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary

Mr Dean, who runs a road repair company, has seemingly agreed to be unveiled at the party planned for next year at their 60-acre Willow Lake Plantation, Tennessee.

The singer’s god daughter, controversial pop star Miley Cyrus, 22, revealed his impending appearance last week. She said he would join his wife on stage, ‘not to sing – just to be there, at her side, in the spotlight’.

Mr Dean has never been interviewed and has reportedly only once attended one of his wife’s shows. It is believed that once a year he anonymously sneaks in to her Dollywood theme park.

Speaking about him previously, Miss Parton said: ‘He is not musical – but he is kind, funny and romantic. His poems are lovely and heartfelt. And that kind of stuff keeps us happy over the years – two old goats together.’

Mr Dean has never been interviewed and has reportedly only once attended one of his wife’s shows. It is believed that once a year he anonymously sneaks in to her Dollywood theme park

Mr Dean has never been interviewed and has reportedly only once attended one of his wife’s shows. It is believed that once a year he anonymously sneaks in to her Dollywood theme park

The song Jolene, released in 1973, remains one of Miss Parton’s biggest hits. It is based on a real life love triangle involving Mr Dean. According to the lyrics, he began to fall for a red-headed bank clerk and

Miss Parton had to plead with her ‘please don’t take him, just because you can’. She joked when she performed at Glastonbury last year that now Mr Dean was getting grey behind the ears Jolene should feel free to come back.

Mr Dean is not the only one whose fidelity has been questioned. His low profile helped fuel rumours about his wife’s close relationship with her childhood friend and personal assistant Judy Ogle. Miss Parton has always denied they have any romantic feelings, saying, ‘I’m a man’s woman’.

Next year’s show, at which it is believed the pair will renew their wedding vows, is being pitched as a celebration of Miss Parton’s rise from a poor childhood in the Smokey Mountains, where she was one of 11 siblings, to being one of the world’s most recognisable singers, with an estimated fortune of more than £300million.

After graduating from high school, Miss Parton left for Nashville to pursue a career in music and met Mr Dean just days later. She later recalled their first meeting: ‘He said: “Hey, you are going to get sunburned out here.” Well, he had to say something’.

Not put off by their height difference – she is just five foot, while he is six – they wed two years later. She has spoken candidly about how her stage persona is very different to how she acts at home around her husband.

She said: ‘When I am on stage, I am Dolly Parton – and the faker I look, with the hair and the double Ds and all, the more real I am, the more true to my roots. But when I am at home, cleaning out the fish Carl has caught or still putting on the laundry, I am Dolly Dean.’

The couple have never had children and Miss Parton has previously talked about how her husband helped her through her depression after she had a hysterectomy at the age of 38. She said: ‘There are still moments when I do not want to get up in the morning, but then with kids I could not have had the career I have loved’. 

The couple have never had children and Miss Parton has previously talked about how her husband helped her through her depression after she had a hysterectomy at the age of 38

The couple have never had children and Miss Parton has previously talked about how her husband helped her through her depression after she had a hysterectomy at the age of 38

 

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