Dolly Parton recently opened up about her choice to not have children, admitting her successful career, working nine-to-five, would’ve been significantly slowed down if she had decided to start a family with her husband, Carl Dean.
The 77-year-old singer-songwriter told Saga Magazine: “I haven’t missed it like I thought I might. When you’re a young couple, you think you’re going to have kids, but it just wasn’t one of those burning things for me. I had my career and my music and I was traveling.”
Dolly and Carl met at a laundromat in Nashville, Tennessee in 1964 before tying the knot two years later.
Dolly Parton opened up about why she and her husband Carl Dean didn't have children
Image credits: dollyparton.com
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“If I’d had kids, I’d have stayed at home with them, I’m sure, and worried myself to death about them,” the country music star said.
She continued: “With everything that’s going on, I’d hate to be bringing a child into this world right now!
Dolly and Carl met at a laundromat in Nashville, Tennessee in 1964 before tying the knot two years later
Image credits: dollyparton.com
Image credits: dollyparton.com
“I always say God didn’t let me have children so that all kids could be mine.”
Dolly isn’t the only famous person to choose a child-free life. Earlier this year, Patricia Clarkson also opened up about her decision to be childfree.
"When you’re a young couple, you think you’re going to have kids, but it just wasn’t one of those burning things for me," Dolly said
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“I had a window to have a child, but [at] the end of the day, I loved working and I grew up with great parents who sacrificed everything for me,” she explained.
Speaking on Zoe Ball's BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show last month, Dolly explained how her marriage to her 81-year-old husband has lasted: “We've been together 59 [years], we dated two years, and then we just celebrated our 57th anniversary on May the 30th.
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“But I think so much of it is the fact that we are honest and open and we have a warped sense of humor!
“He is crazy, he is so funny and clever. And I have a great sense of humor from both sides of my family so I think the humor has always been good.”
“I always say God didn’t let me have children so that all kids could be mine," Dolly said
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Dolly admitted that a mutual “love and respect” for one another has always been the bedrock of their romance. She said: “There's the respect and the love and I just like him!
“You know, I would have liked him if he wasn't my husband, if he was somebody else's husband, I'd say, "You know that Carl Dean, ain't he funny? Ain't he a good guy?", so I think it's just that mutual respect and we just like each other.”
Image credits: dollyparton.com
The songstress went on to reveal that she valued Carl's opinion and that he never gave her an honest answer “in a cruel way”.
She said: “If I ask him if he likes my hair – 'too stringy for me' or 'it looks too important' - you know like if it's too stiff... he always calls it that, 'It looks too important', but I know if I ask him - he won't just volunteer it - but if I ask him, he'll tell me the truth.”
"The world was her children," some fans agreed
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