Dolly Parton ‘Doing Better Than I Thought I Would’ After Husband’s Death

It's now been almost three weeks since Dolly Parton announced the death of Carl Dean, her husband of more than five decades.

The singer has already made her first public appearance since losing him — at Dollywood's 2025 opening day last Friday (March 14) — and she even greeted fans at the event, speaking both about her theme park and about some of her favorite memories of her late husband.

Of course, Parton's still hurting from the devastating loss. But she says she's coping okay, and finding bright spots in the weeks after Dean's death.

"I'm doing better than I thought I would," Parton recently told Knox News.

She admitted that it's a big life adjustment.

"I've been with him 60 years. So I'm going to have to re-learn some of the things that we've done. But I'll keep him always close," the star goes on to say.

Read More: Why Dolly Parton + Carl Dean Never Had Children

Parton also said that Dean "suffered a great deal" in his illness.

There's been no official word on his cause of death, though various reports have speculated that he might have battled Alzheimer's in the final years of his life. After his death, the relief of knowing he's no longer suffering has been a comfort to Parton.

"I'm at peace knowing he's at peace," she says, "but that don't keep me from missing him and loving him."

Read More: See Inside the Houses Dolly Parton Shared With Her Late Husband

What Memories of Carl Dean Has Dolly Parton Shared?

Dean was famously private, never appearing alongside his superstar wife in public. Parton has often talked about him in interviews over the years, sharing some glimpses into their life together as well as the ways that Dean covered up his identity to the public.

He even used to pretend to be a gardener when paparazzi spotted him outside their home, according to an interview Parton gave on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the '70s.

During her Dollywood appearance on Friday, Parton remembered her late husband's relationship with her theme park, and said he sometimes used to go to Dollywood "undercover," even purchasing his own ticket into the park.

"He bought his own ticket — stood in line and got his ticket. He didn't want somebody giving him a ticket 'cause he was Dolly's husband," she says.

"He'd come up to East Tennessee to see some of my family and people that he loved of my people. And so he'd just think, 'Well, I think I'll go to Dollywood, check things out,'" Parton recounts, saying that he'd later give her feedback on the state of the park.

"He would say, 'You need more bathrooms.' Or he would say, 'You need to tell them this or that.' 'It's crowded over in that area.' 'You might want to tell them they ought to do this or that.'

"He wasn't coming to criticize, but he would notice things and he would say, 'You might want to bring this to their attention,'" she says.

As she looks ahead to life without Dean, Parton said that she's combating her grief by throwing herself into the projects she finds most fulfilling, like Dollywood.

"It's a hole in my heart, you know, but we'll fill that up with good stuff and he'll still always be with me," she adds.