Dolly Parton says fan-support after the death of her husband Carl Dean ‘means the world to me’
Dolly Parton has thanked fans for their support after the death of her husband. (Getty)
Dolly Parton has shared an update to fans days after she announced the death of her husband Carl Dean at the age of 82.
The country music superstar announced Dean’s passing on Monday (3 March), confirming that her husband of almost 60 years passed away in Nashville, Tennessee, the state that he and Parton lived.
In a Thursday (6 March) update, the “Please Please Please” remix co-collaborator thanked her friends, family and fans for honouring her late husband.
“This is a love note to family, friends, and fans. Thank you for all the messages, cards, and flowers you’ve sent to pay your respects for the loss of my beloved husband Carl,” she wrote on Instagram.
“I can’t reach out personally to each of you but just know it has meant the world to me. He is in God’s arms now and I am okay with that. I will always love you.”
In a short but heartbreaking tribute, the “9 To 5” singer previously expressed that “words can’t do justice” to their relationship, which began when Parton was just 18.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” the statement reads.
The statement announcing Dean’s death confirmed that he would be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family, and asked for privacy during the difficult time.
Parton and Dean met in a chance encounter in 1964 outside a laundromat on the first day she arrived in Nashville to begin her illustrious country music career.
“I’d come to Nashville with dirty clothes,” the now 79-year-old later told The New York Times of how the pair came to meet.
“I was in such a hurry to get here. And after I’d put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin’ down the street, just lookin’ at my new home, and this guy hollered at me, and I waved. Bein’ from the country, I spoke to everybody. And he came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband,” she shared.
Parton and Dean married just two years later, in May 1966, in a private ceremony in Georgia.
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