Reba McEntire has been close friends with her fellow country music legend Dolly Parton since the 1970s. That’s why it came as a shock to many when McEntire recently revealed that she has never met Parton’s husband Carl Dean, who she has been married to since 1966!
McEntire Has Never Met Parton’s Husband
McEntire, 69, dropped this bomb while appearing on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live last month. There, she admitted that she’s “never” eaten Parton’s food because the 78 year-old “Jolene” singer has “never invited” McEntire to her house.
That’s a long time to wait for an invite!
“Have you met Carl?” host Andy Cohen asked.
“No. Have you?” replied McEntire.
While Cohen admitted that he had not met Dean, 82, he insisted that “people really do swear he exists.”
“Yeah,” McEntire agreed. “I saw something the other day. They were out camping, and she and Carl went back to where they got married.”
Check out their full exchange about this in the video below.
Related: Dolly Parton Reveals Real Reason Her Husband Of 57 Years Stays Out Of The Spotlight
Parton And Dean’s History
Parton met Dean at a laundromat the same day that she moved to Nashville to pursue her country music dreams back in 1964. She was only 18 at the time, and he was 22. They married two years later in 1966.
Despite decades of Parton being one of the most famous women in the world, Dean has managed to stay out of the spotlight completely. Last year, Parton opened up about Dean’s decision to keep his life private in an episode of her Apple Music 1 show What Would Dolly Do? Radio.
“Carl has never been in the limelight and all, never wanted to be in it,” she said at the time. “He don’t like it.”
“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,'” Parton continued. “I never asked him and he never did.”
Parton took no issue with this, as she described her husband as being a “very honest” person who always speaks his mind.
“We have such a great relationship,” she said. “I know not to ask him if I don’t want an honest answer.”
Related: Dolly Parton Announces She’s Retiring From Touring So She Can ‘Stay Closer To My Husband’
Dean Is ‘Kind Of A Loner’
Earlier this year, Parton told Entertainment Tonight that Dean is a “loner” at heart.
“He’s kind of a loner, so he doesn’t really like being with anybody but me,” she explained.
And really, do you need anyone more than Dolly?
“He’s not one to kind of get out there and socialize that much,” Parton added. “He loves living on the farm, taking care of the property as he has for all these many years.”
Back in February, Parton revealed that something happening to Dean would be one of the only things that could convince her to retire.
“I would only retire if I was ill or if my husband was ill and needed me,” Parton told USA Today. “That’d be the only thing that would make me pull back.”
While it makes sense that McEntire is surprised about never meeting Parton’s husband, we can certainly understand why Dean wants to avoid both the spotlight and celebrities altogether. We wish Parton and Dean many years of happiness together to come!
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