Country music icon Dolly Parton has died aged 80, just one year after the death of her husband Carl Dean. The star passed away following a brief battle with cancer, according to a statement shared on Tuesday (August 25).
The statement said: "After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones." The singer had been admitted to a Nashville-area hospital on Friday (August 21), where she died four days later.
A Life in Music and a Lasting Love
Dolly was a huge name in the entertainment industry since she burst onto the scene in the late 1960s, best known for her genre-defining hits including 9 To 5, I Will Always Love You and Jolene. She moved to Nashville in 1964 after high school at the age of 18 to pursue her dream, and it was on her first day that she met her future husband Carl Thomas Dean, who was two years older.
After two years together, they tied the knot in 1966 in a private ceremony. Carl decided to stay largely out of the limelight throughout Dolly's spectacular career, rarely appearing in interviews alongside his wife, despite being the subject of her famous 1973 hit Jolene.
Jolene and His Reaction
In an interview on BBC's The One Show in 2023, Dolly opened up on her husband's thoughts after hearing Jolene for the first time. Speaking to host Alex Jones, she said: "He was a little embarrassed when I wrote the song Jolene. I was just jealous because she was a beautiful woman and he was just flirting. So it gave me a great idea for a song. There's always a Jolene in somebody's life."
She added: "There's always somebody prettier than you or somebody you fear they are better than you. I just joke about it now I say to him 'I see you over there in that La-Z-Boy chair snoring and sleeping and I think where's Jolene? You can have him now Jolene'."
Carl's Death and Her Final Days
The pair never had their own biological children, but Dolly famously treated her friends' children as her own, building an incredibly close bond with her nieces and nephews. In 2019, Carl was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He died in March 2025 at the age of 82 after a six-year long battle.
Dolly was heartbroken by his death, and shared a statement at the time. She said: "I fell in love with Carl Dean when I was 18 years old. We have spent 60 precious and meaningful years together. Like all great love stories, they never end. They live on in memory and song. He will always be the star of my life story, and I dedicate this song to him. 'If You Hadn't Been There'."
Dolly recently spoke about Carl's final days and how she chose to focus on his health instead of her own. In an interview with PEOPLE just four days ago, she said: "As I've shared in video messages throughout the past year, I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn't pay attention to when I was watching over [my husband] Carl."
She added: "You know, this isn't the first time I've had to manage something like this. Back in the early '80s, I was down for several months with female issues, and I was struggling with my weight at the time too, so it's not like I haven't been through hard times with my health."
She continued: "But, I think because we live in a 24/7 world with social media, everything gets magnified in ways it wasn't years ago. I used to joke that I was the Queen of the Tabloids, but now I guess I can say I'm the Queen of Social Media AI! Seriously, though, even though I'm still healin', I'm still workin'! You know me - as I've often said - I've dreamed myself into a corner and I still have so many things I want to achieve, so I'm gonna keep on working as long as I can to see everything come to life."
Final Wish
Her nephew Bryan Seaver confirmed the news, also sharing Dolly's final wish. In a video shared on Dolly's official Instagram page, he said: "Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton, because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest."
