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
“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
“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
“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.
“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
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.”
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
