Dolly Parton says her late husband ‘suffered a great deal’ and she’s ‘at peace that he’s at peace’

Dolly Parton in 2022. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP via CNN Newsource)

Parton’s husband, Carl Dean, died earlier this month in Nashville, Tennessee at age 82.

The couple were married for nearly 60 years, meeting when a now 79-year-old Parton was 18 and marrying in 1966.

Knox News reported that Parton surprised those gathered on March 14 for a season opening celebration for her theme park, Dollywood.

Parton told the crowd of her loss, “I will always love him, and I miss him.”

She also thanked those who had reached out with cards and concern. Parton usually attends the Dollywood opening celebration, but many expected her not to show due to her husband’s recent death.

“I need to laugh. I need some fun, so I’m probably gonna be stupid,” she reportedly told the crowd. “I’ve been crying enough the last week or two.”

The superstar country singer later said in an interview with Knox News that she was “doing better than I thought I would.”

“I’ve been with him 60 years,” she told the publication. “So, I’m going to have to relearn some of the things that we’ve done. But I’ll keep him always close.”

“I’m at peace that he’s at peace, but that don’t keep me from missing him and loving him,” Parton added, noting that Dean had “suffered a great deal.”

“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 continued.

Dean was famously private and would seldom appear in public, let alone with his famous wife. But Parton said he would come to her theme park, standing in line to buy a ticket just like other visitors to Dollywood.

“He didn’t want somebody giving him a ticket ‘cause he was Dolly’s husband,” she said.

Lisa Respers France, CNN