Dolly Parton’s husband Carl Dean was last seen on a rare outing in Tennessee five years before his death: ‘For the past five years he has been struggling with the pain of a strange illness and said if I died I would… see more

Dolly Parton’s husband, Carl Dean, was last seen in public in December 2019 in Brentwood, Tennessee, a little more than five years before his death.

Parton announced via Instagram that her husband of nearly 59 years died on Monday, March 3. He was 82.

Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82. He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending.

He is survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie,” the post read.

“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice t the love we shared for over 60 years.

Dean was last seen in December 2019 when he stepped out near the family’s estate on Brentwood, Tennessee.

The image of the then-77-year-old Dean, who was visiting the post office with an assistant, was the first time he had been photographed in public in four decades.

Notably, when Parton began to rise to fame in the late 1960s, Dean stayed far in the background.

He then remained out of the public eye for decades and wasn’t photographed with his superstar wife. She did occasionally share throwback photos of her husband on social media.