Dolly was becoming a rising star in the late ’60s – but this wasn’t something that bothered her more private partner.

She even had to head off to a radio appearance the morning after their wedding, and pushed back the honeymoon so she could focus on other commitments.

Preferring to avoid the limelight, Carl has only accompanied the country star to an industry event once, Parton told Oprah Magazine, which was a BMI dinner in 1966.

“So Carl and I got dressed up, he was in a tux, and we drove to the dinner,” she recounted. “We got out and walked up the red carpet and went inside and sat through dinner and the awards.

“After the dinner, Carl turned to me and said, ‘Dolly, I want you to have everything you want, and I’m happy for you, but don’t you ever ask me to go to another one of them dang things again!’”

Dean stayed away from the spotlight and instead ran an asphalt-laying company in Nashville, running the pavement business as far back as 1977, People reports.

In 2016, the still-loved up couple decided to renew their vows after 50 years of marriage.

They held the ceremony at their home in Nashville, with Parton wearing an elaborate wedding gown to the event.

“I never really felt like I had the wedding that we really wanted,” she said. “He got all dressed up and I got all dressed up. Fifty years is a long time for anything, and I felt that we needed to do something to commemorate this.

“It’s been a good 50 years and I don’t know how many more years we’ll have left.

“If I had it to do all over, I’d do it all over again, and we did,” she said. “I’m dragging him kicking and screaming into the next 50 years.”

The secret to their long-lasting love, Parton credits, is their complimentary personalities – and their independence.

“I always say ‘Stay gone!’ and there’s a lot of truth to that,” she revealed to People. “I travel a lot, but we really enjoy each other when we’re together and the little things we do.”

The pair like to take mini-trips away and spend time in the Tennessee countryside, and dine at their favourite local eateries.

It’s also her husband’s “unique sense of humour” that keeps her laughing, Dolly’s website reveals.

The couple never had any children, something Parton reflected on in a 2018 interview with People.

“Now that I’m older, I realise I didn’t have kids of my own, so everybody’s kids could be mine,” she said. “I [want to] empower children and give them confidence.”

And if you’re wondering if Dolly’s mega-hit ‘Jolene’ was about Carl, according to Biography, it is.

Apparently, the song is partly based on a bank teller who flirted with him.

Parton also wrote ‘Just Because I’m a Woman’ as a response to her husband’s disappointment when discovered she’d had sex with other men before meeting him.