Dolly Parton Reacts To Conspiracy Theory That Her Husband Doesn't Exist - And Explains Why You Never See Him

Dolly Parton may be larger than life, but she’s managed to keep her personal life very private for decades.

Leading up to the release of her new memoir, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, the icon has been addressing the rumors and conspiracies surrounding her career for years. One such conspiracy is that her rarely-seen husband, Carl Dean, doesn’t actually exist! Of course, unlike the tattoo rumor, this was is totally debunked!

Carl is real alright — he just doesn’t like the celebrity lifestyle. Dolly explained to Entertainment Tonight:

“A lot of people have thought that through the years, because he does not want to be in the spotlight at all. It’s just not who he is. He’s like, a quiet, reserved person, and he figured if he ever got out there in that, he’d never get a minute’s peace and he’s right about that.”

She continued:

“I’ve always respected and appreciated that in him and I’ve always tried to keep him out of the limelight as much as I can. He said, ‘I didn’t choose this world, I chose you, and you chose that world. But we can keep our lives separate and together.’ And we do and we have. We’ve been together 56 years, married 54.”

Wow! No one can question their setup with a record like that!

In the style of her goddaughter Miley Cyrus, the Jolene singer has lead a Hannah Montana-esque double life for years. She keeps her personal life quiet and separate, while her public persona keeps her VERY busy. (She’s got a book, a Christmas album, and a film out all at the end of this year.)

But staying busy has actually helped her marriage:

“Our joke about the fact, when people ask me why it’s lasted this long, I say, ‘Because I stay gone.’ And there’s a lot of truth in that — the fact that we’re not in each other’s faces all the time. But we do have a great respect and admiration for each other. We both have a great sense of humor. So, we have a lot of fun. … We have very similar tastes… we love to travel around our little RV, and we don’t like parties and all that stuff.”

Last month, the 74-year-old told People about how she and Carl keep the flame alive. She shared:

“We still have our little times, like in the springtime when the first yellow daffodils come out. Even if there’s still some snow around it, my husband always brings me a bouquet. And he’ll usually write me a little poem. Which to me, that’s priceless. That’s like a date in itself.”

How romantic!

For her part, she’ll treat her man to a picnic, a candlelight dinner, or even a trip to a motel “as long as the bed’s clean and there’s a bathroom.” She added:

“We don’t make an issue of it. It’s like certain days, you feel a certain way. And I’ll say, ‘I’m going to surprise him. And we’re going to have real cloth napkins and real crystal. I’m going to put the real china out instead of the paper plates we usually eat on because we don’t want to have to wash dishes.'”

Honestly, it sounds like they’ve found the secret to a long, healthy marriage. We wish them many more years of happiness to come!

[Image via FayesVision/WENN.]