Country music legend Dolly Parton has announced that she is putting her music career on hold in the wake of her husband Carl Dean’s death in March.
Parton opened up about her decision on Wednesday while on Khloé Kardashian’s “Khloé in Wonder Land” podcast. She shared that the grief she is facing with her husband’s death has affected her creative process for writing new music.
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The 41-year-old TV personality had asked Parton if she ever suffered from writer’s block. Parton responded by sharing that her husband’s death has made it exceptionally hard.
“My husband passed away three months ago…[there are] several things I’ve wanted to start, but I can’t do it. I will later, but I’m just coming up with such wonderful, beautiful ideas. But I think I won’t finish it,” she expressed.
“I can’t do it right now because I’ve got so many other things that I can’t afford the luxury of getting that emotional right now. So there are times like that, things like that that will start here a little bit, but I’ll write something else, though, if it comes. So I’m just putting that all on hold,” Parton continued.
As CBN News reported, Parton and Dean had been together for 60 years before he passed away on March 3 in Nashville, Tennessee. Dean had avoided the spotlight during his famous wife’s lifelong career, but he served as an inspiration for her, including her timeless song “Jolene.”
Parton told CBN News in a 2016 interview that her husband was a gift from God.
“I think my husband and my relationship was just really a God-send,” Parton said. “God knew I was going to need somebody like him if I was going to be doing all this crazy stuff.”
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“But He knew he (Carl) was going to need somebody like me because Carl is pretty much a loner and he really doesn’t want to be with anybody but me,” she added.
The couple’s love story began 62 years ago when they met outside a Wishy Washy Laundromat. Parton was 18 years old and had just moved to Nashville.
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Reprinted with permission from cbn.com. Copyright © 2025 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
