- Dolly Parton's husband, Carl Thomas Dean, doesn't attend red-carpet events with the singer.
- The 77-year-old star said her husband has never wanted to be in the limelight.
Dolly Parton and her husband Carl Thomas Dean have been together since they met outside of a laundromat in 1964.
The couple got married two years later, and though Parton has embraced the spotlight over the course of her impressive career, her husband has shied away from it.
Speaking on an upcoming episode of her Apple Music radio show, "What Would Dolly Do? Radio," the "Jolene" singer is revealing just why we rarely see Dean by her side on the red carpet.
"Carl has never been in the limelight and all, never wanted to be in it. He don't like it," she said.
Parton explained that she and Dean went to an awards ceremony together not long after they got married, and he swore that he wouldn't go to another.
"He went to one thing with me early on when we first married to a BMI Song of the Year, and he came out there taking off his tuxedo, his tie, and all that, and said, 'Don't ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain't going,'" the singer recalled. "I never asked him and he never did."
Parton went on to say that Dean always gives her his honest opinion on her music, even if he's not impressed by something she's made.
"I had done a couple of things in the past, just some rock things. He said, 'It's okay. It's okay.' He's very honest," she said. "We have such a great relationship. I know not to ask him if I don't want an honest answer."
Parton also spoke about her husband's love of "Stairway to Heaven" by his favorite band, Led Zeppelin. She recalled telling him that she was going to cover the 1971 song, and that he told her not to do it.
"Years ago, I was doing covers of some of these rock albums in a more bluegrass country way, and I told him I was doing 'Stairway to Heaven.' He said, 'I don't think you need to do that,' and I said how I was going to do it," Parton remembered.
Parton said she recorded the song anyway, and Dean was not impressed.
"I played it for him and he said, 'It's okay.' He said, 'Are you sure that's "Stairway to Heaven" or" Stairwell to Hell?"'" said the singer.