Country music star Dolly Parton's been happily married to Carl Thomas Dean for a long time. Dolly talks a lot about her life in her songs and in interviews, but Carl would rather live a quiet life in their house in Tennessee, rather than being in the spotlight. That's where the conflict should start, right?
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On February 14, 1964, Dolly met Carl for the first time in a laundromat in Nashville. Fresh off the bus from East Tennessee, she was an 18-year-old with big dreams. Carl, a local businessman running an asphalt-laying company, was the quiet counterpart to Dolly's outgoing personality.
In her Channel 5 documentary, Dolly Parton: In Her Own Words, she recalled: "I’d never been in a laundromat before. I walked outside, and there was this good-looking man that drove by the wishy-washy laundromat. And he pulled over to the side. So we started talking, and we married years later."
Fast forward 57 years, and the couple has 'dealt' with their fame by keeping their marriage very private, and giving each other space to have fun. Dolly once admitted, "Men are my weakness," a revelation that might surprise those in less secure relationships. Yet, in the Parton-Dean marriage, it's all part of the charm.
"Short, fat, bald, or skinny — I’ve had crushes on some very unusual men," she explained, clarifying that this isn't cheating. "Carl knows I’ll always come home, and I’m not having sex with these people — I’m just flirting and having fun."
Remarkably, Parton's husband is not threatened by her playfulness; in fact, he is equally guilty. According to the country star, "He’s not jealous, and I’m not jealous of him. He knows I flirt. He flirts too."
Despite the label "open relationship," Dolly and Dean's dynamic doesn't involve secrets or romantic entanglements. Dolly, known for her straightforwardness, lays it out: "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."
Most people think of open relationships in a particular way, but Dolly and Dean's way is different. Cultural customs don't influence their relationship, but they are very loyal to each other. So, Dean never has to ask questions like "how to find out if your wife is cheating?"
"I have to say that Dolly Parton and Carl Thomas Dean's way of doing things goes against what most people think. Their relationship is open but not sexual, showing a unique kind of trust and safety. This might not work for everyone, but it makes a big sense for them," that what Wilda Harrison, a relationship psychologist, thinks about this case.
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