Dolly Parton tied the knot with Carl Dean 54 years ago on May 30, 1966.
And the country music icon, 74, sat down for a virtual interview with Gabby Barrett for Amazon Music, where she dished advice on how to make a marriage last.
Dolly said: ‘We’re not in each other’s face all the time. I think there’s a lot to be said about having some sensible separation because you can’t be with somebody 24/7, 365 and not want to smack their face now and then.’
Country music icon Dolly Parton sat down for a virtual interview with Gabby Barrett for Amazon Music, where she dished advice on how to make a marriage last.
Gabby, who is set to celebrate her first wedding anniversary with husband Cade Foehner, sat down to talk to the legend in celebration of her Amazon Original cover of her hit 1974 song I Will Always Love You.
The 20-year-old singer and husband Cade, 24, are expecting their first child together, a baby girl; the duo, who met on American Idol season 16 in 2018, tied the knot October 2019.
Dolly, who revealed she’s never fought with Dean, 78, said to Gabby of making a marriage last: ‘My husband and I always had a great friendship. We’re both funny, and we both have a great and warped sense of humor so we’ve always had a good time.’
The icon continued: ‘He’s pretty much a loner and a homebody, and I’m a gypsy. But when I’m home, I love that. We don’t do the same thing so it gives us different stuff to talk about.’
Lovebirds: She tied the knot with Carl Dean 54 years ago on May 30, 1966
In conversation: Gabby, who is set to celebrate her first wedding anniversary with husband Cade Foehner, covered Dolly’s hit 1974 song I Will Always Love You
Dolly added: ‘He doesn’t get involved in my business, and I don’t in his, so we have our little world that we create for ourselves.’
The Jolene singer said: ‘I’ve always made jokes that the reason our marriage has lasted so long is because I stay gone. Well, there is a lot of truth in that. We’re not in each other’s face all the time.’
‘I think there’s a lot to be said about having sensible separation because you can’t be with somebody 24/7, 365 and not want to smack their face now and then,’ Dolly said.
Soon to be parents: The 20-year-old singer and husband Cade, 24, are expecting their first child together, a baby girl; the duo, who met on American Idol season 16 in 2018, tied the knot October 2019
Wisdom: ‘I think there’s a lot to be said about having sensible separation because you can’t be with somebody 24/7, 365 and not want to smack their face now and then,’ Dolly said
Dolly added they never fought, explaining that if they are upset, they walk away from each other to cool down.
She said: ‘We’ve never bickered back and forth because I never wanted us to say bad things that we would have to remember. We get a little pissy now and then, but we’ll just kind of walk off or go do something else and let that die down.’
Explaining: ‘You have to work at anything. Marriage is a business too, and you got to look at it like that. You got to make the right decisions for all the little thing that come up.’
Dolly told Gabby that the first year of marriage is ‘probably the hardest,’ because ‘you are trying to figure each other out and learn. That’s the year that you get the most rubbed wrong only because you’re having to share space with somebody you’ve never had to share your space with before.’
‘Your habits are different than theirs so you got to work those little things out. It’s best just to go to the other room rather than getting in a big old argument about it, cool off and know they’re just entitled to their opinion and their space as you are yours.’
Throwback: Dolly and Carl married on May 30, 1966 in Ringgold, Georgia after they first met outside of a Nashville laundromat in 1964; he retired from running an asphalt road paving business in Nashville
The legendary artist further explained: ‘So if you can think of it like that, and just know that when you both feel like you can calm down and talk about it, that’s where the love is supposed to come in and the understanding… Then if you get that worked out, smack him across the head.’
Dolly and Carl married on May 30, 1966 in Ringgold, Georgia after they first met outside of a Nashville laundromat in 1964 when she was 18 and he was 21; he retired from running an asphalt road paving business in Nashville.
Carl, who is very reclusive and does not accompany his wife to any events, has only seen Dolly perform live once, which she revealed during a sit down interview on the Ellen DeGeneres show in 2011.
He was seen in January in public for the first time in 40 years while out and about near the family estate in Brentwood, Tennessee.
Husband and wife: Carl has only seen Dolly perform live once, which she revealed during a sit down interview on the Ellen DeGeneres show in 2011