Dolly Parton will always love her late husband, Carl Dean.
On the May 2 episode of TODAY, Parton recalled what her life has been like since he died in March. When TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie asked her how she’s been holding up since his death, Parton said she still has a hard time talking about it.
“I get very emotional when people bring it up,” she said, tearing up.
“We were together 60 years. I’ve loved him since I was 18 years old, and it’s a big adjustment just trying to change patterns and habits. I’ll do fine. I’m very involved in my work and that’s been the best thing that could happen to me. But I’ll always miss him, of course, and I’ll always love him,” she said.
Craig Melvin then showed Parton a viral video of a kid looking shocked to see the “Jolene” singer riding in a parade at Dollywood,ย the amusement park she owns.
Parton, who laughed at the clip, said she was actually having a hard time that day because she was still dealing with Dean’s death.
“I got very emotional that day after the parade because there was just so much love like that,” she said of seeing the crowd cheer for her at the park.
โAnd it was right after I had lost Carl, and I was just so bottled up with emotion, and I just got in the van and just boo hooโd for the longest time, just feeling all that love and emotion,โ she said.
Parton and Dean were married for nearly 60 years. On March 3, Parton announced that her husband had died in a statement on Instagram. He was 82.
โHe will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He was survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie,โ she wrote at the time.
โCarl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words canโt do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,โ she wrote in the statement.
