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Dolly Parton opened up about how her songwriting has changed since losing her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean.
The legendary “I Will Always Love You” star, 79, joined Khloé Kardashian on her podcast, Khloé in Wonder Land. Parton said she’s attempted to write tributes to her late husband, “but I can’t do it. …I will later. I’m just coming up with such wonderful, beautiful ideas, but I think I won’t finish it. I can’t do it right now because I got so many other things. …I’m just putting that all on hold.”
Find the full episode on iHeartRadio here.
Parton previously said she wasn’t looking for a relationship when she moved to Nashville, but she met Dean on her first day in Music City outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat. They got married on May 30, 1966 in Ringgold, Georgia. Parton revisited the church where she married Dean on her first anniversary without him, and wore Dean’s wedding ring on a gold chain to feel as though “he was there with me.”
Dean died on March 3 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 82. Parton previously paid tribute to her late husband when she released “If You Hadn’t Been There,” a heartfelt ballad she debuted days after his passing. Parton said at that time that she “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.”