Dolly Parton got choked up Friday as she talked about her late husband Carl Dean, who died in March.
The music icon told the “Today” show that she gets “very emotional” when people bring up her late husband, who was married to the singer for 58 years.
“We were together 60 years, I’ve loved him since I was 18 years old, and it’s a big adjustment just trying to change patterns and habits,” Parton said.
Parton notably kept their relationship out of the public eye in the decades since she met her husband — who inspired her classic song “Jolene” as well as her 2023 album “Rockstar” — outside a laundromat in Nashville, Tennessee.
Parton has paid tribute to Dean in recent months, writing that she “will always love” him in a post to her Instagram and sharing a touching new song in his honor, as well.
The singer, while kicking off the 40th season of her Dollywood amusement park in mid-March, noted that Dean would have wanted her to be working and performing for her fans that day in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
“It’s a hole in my heart, you know, but we’ll fill that up with good stuff, and he’ll still always be with me,” she told Knox News at the time.
“He suffered a great deal, so I’m at peace with him being at peace.”
Parton told the “Today” show that she’s currently “very involved” in her work before adding, “But I’ll miss him, of course, and I’ll always love him. He was a great partner to me.”
Parton said she’s also been “so thankful” for her fans’ outpouring of support.
“I got so many cards, letters, flowers from all over the world. I had no idea Carl Dean was so famous,” she said before cracking a smile.
Parton then revealed how a recent parade through Dollywood, during which an 8-year-old fan adorably lost it upon seeing the music icon, caused her to get “very emotional” afterward.
“There was just so much love like that,” she said.
“It was right after I had lost Carl, and I was just so bottled up with emotion, and I got in the van and just boo-hooed for the longest time, just feeling all that love and emotion.”
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