Entertainment News5 min(s) read
Dolly Parton spoke openly about one of the biggest things she and her husband, Carl Dean, once imagined for their future: having children, before her death on Tuesday, aged 80.
The couple married in 1966 after Parton fell in love with Dean when she was just 18. More than five decades later, Parton continued to describe their relationship as a happy one, even though they never became parents.
Speaking to Oprah Winfrey, Parton explained that not having children ultimately gave her the freedom to dedicate herself to her career.
“Since I had no kids and my husband was pretty independent,” she admitted, she had the “freedom” to pursue her ambitions.
“So I think a big part of my whole success is the fact that I was free to work.”
However, Parton revealed that having children was something she and Dean initially expected.
“Early on, when my husband and I were dating, and then when we got married, we just assumed we would have kids,” she told Billboard in 2014.
“We weren’t doing anything to stop it. In fact, we thought maybe we would. We even had names if we did, but it didn’t turn out that way.”
Over the years, Parton explained several factors that shaped the couple's decision — including her health, her demanding career and the love she has for her wider family.
Parton admitted that she and Dean used to imagine what their children might look like.
“My husband and I, when we first got married, we thought about if we had kids, what would they look like?” she told The Guardian.
They even had a name picked out for a daughter.
“If we’d had a girl, she was gonna be called Carla,” Parton revealed.
Ultimately, however, she came to believe that parenthood simply wasn't part of her path.
“It wasn’t meant to be. Now that we’re older? We’re glad.”
Parton believed she would have been a devoted mother, but that devotion may have meant sacrificing the career she had worked so hard to build.
“I would have been a great mother, I think. I would probably have given up everything else,” she added.
She explained that leaving children behind while touring would have made her feel guilty.
“Everything would have changed. I probably wouldn’t have been a star.”
“I’ve made the sacrifice of time... and not having time to spend with family, and you give up family and friends, vacation, and work without end, 24/7, 365, but you got to make the sacrifice.”
Parton's health may also have played a role in why she never became a mother.
She suffered from endometriosis, a painful condition that can affect fertility, and underwent a partial hysterectomy in 1984.
Parton had described the period surrounding the procedure as extremely difficult, revealing that she experienced a deep depression afterwards and even contemplated suicide.
“It was an awful time for me,” she admitted in 2008.
Although Parton never had children herself, she was always surrounded by a large extended family.
She grew up with 11 siblings in a one-bedroom home and later became extremely close to her nieces and nephews.
Her relatives even gave her a fitting nickname.
“They call me ‘Aunt Granny,’” Parton said, while Dean is known as “Uncle PeePaw.”
As the family grew, Parton embraced her role as an aunt and great-aunt.
“I’ve loved their kids just like they’re my grandkids, and now I’ve got great-grand-kids!” she added.
She explained that she came to view her relationship with children as part of the reason she never had children herself.
“I often think, it just wasn’t meant for me to have kids so everybody’s kids can be mine.”
Parton's affection for children had also influenced her philanthropic work.
She established the Imagination Library, a charity that provides free books to young children.
Speaking about the organization, Parton explained that she believed there was a reason she never became a mother herself.
“I didn’t have children because I believed that God didn’t mean for me to have kids so everybody’s kids could be mine,” she revealed.
She added that not having children gave her the freedom to create projects such as the Imagination Library.
“If I hadn’t had the freedom to work, I wouldn’t have done all the things I’ve done. I wouldn’t be in a position to do all of the things I’m doing now.”
Parton has also said that children seemed to naturally connect with her personality.
“I think kids relate to me because they think of me like a Mother Goose or a Fairy Godmother,” she told People.
“I’m like a cartoon character—my voice is little and I’m an excitable little person like them! I’m very childlike in that way, in my nature.”
She even released a children's album, I Believe in You, in 2017.
Parton and Dean also deliberately kept their relationship relatively private, before Dean's death in 2025.
The singer joked that keeping some distance helped their marriage survive more than half a century.
“I always joke and laugh when people ask me what’s the key to my long marriage and lasting love,” she told People.
“I always say ‘Stay gone!’ and there’s a lot of truth to that.”
Parton explained that her extensive traveling means they spent plenty of time apart, but that they appreciated one another when they were together.
Their relationship even inspired Parton's 2016 album Pure & Simple, which was dedicated to Dean.
“I thought, ‘Well I’m going to write about mine and Carl’s relationship. It’s just a pure and simple relationship,’” she explained.
After more than 50 years of marriage, Parton was clear that she wouldn't change her decision to build the life she had with Dean.
When the couple renewed their vows for their 50th anniversary, she joked about their plans for the future: “I’m dragging him kicking and screaming into the next 50 years. Wish us luck.”
