Given the success that followed both singers, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton shared the stage a few times throughout their careers in the spotlight. Back in 2021, the singers teamed up for a duet of “Does He Love You.” And just a few years ago, they performed together at the Country Music Association Awards with “Those Memories of You.” While sharing their love for each other and the legacies they built, Reba recently explained how she never met Dolly’s husband Carl Thomas Dean.
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While famous couples often find a moment to share their love for the cameras, Dolly and Dean appear to be the complete opposite. Throughout Dolly’s career, her husband has become a master of staying away from the spotlight. Appearing on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live, Reba explained how she not only never met Dean but never visited their house. Although there are silly theories on the internet that Dean doesn’t exist, Cohen joked, “people really do swear he exists.” Reba added, “I saw something the other day. They were out camping, and she and Carl went back to where they got married.”
[RELATED: On This Day in 1971, Dolly Parton Released Her Autobiographical Hit “Coat of Many Colors”]
Dolly Parton Explains How Her Husband Is A “Loner”
Looking back at Dolly’s life, she apparently met Dean back in 1964. Just two years later, they decided to get married. But even with the two sharing their love for each other, Dean refrained from attending events. He did attend one and according to Dolly, “He went to one thing with me early on, when we first married, to a BMI Song of the Year [event], and he came out of there taking off his tuxedo, his tie and all that and said, ‘Don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain’t going.’ I never asked him and he never did.”
Loving her husband, Dolly insisted Dean was honest when it came to his thoughts. “We have such a great relationship. I know not to ask him if I don’t want an honest answer.” As for his disdain for the spotlight and Hollywood, the singer told Entertainment Tonight, “He’s kind of a loner, so he doesn’t really like being with anybody but me.”
(Photo by Jason Mendez/Getty Images)
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