Country music legend Dolly Parton‘s husband Carl Dean was seen out in public for the first time in 40 years. On Friday, The Daily Mail published new photos taken last month, showing Dean during an outing near their home in Brentwood, Tennessee. Parton and Dean, 77, have been married for more than 50 years, but Dean has managed to stay out of the spotlight.
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The Daily Mail‘s photos show Dean wearing a beige coat and jeans, and was aided by a personal assistant.
The photos surfaced months after a National Enquirer report on Parton’s life with Dean was published. A source told the tabloid that Dean “barely leaves the house and doesn’t really interact with people unless he has to,” the complete opposite of Parton, 73.
Dean and Parton met outside a Nashville laundromat in 1964 and married two years later in Ringgold, Georgia. Only her mother and the pastor’s wife attended the ceremony. Parton was only 18 when they married.
In June 2016, the couple renewed their wedding vows to celebrate their 50th anniversary.
“If I had it to do all over, I’d do it all over again, and we did,” Parton said in a statement on her website. “I’m dragging him kicking and screaming into the next 50 years. Wish us luck.”
“My first thought was ‘I’m gonna marry that girl,’” Dean said of the day he met Parton, reports Entertainment Tonight. “My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin.’ And that was the day my life began. I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.”
In a 2018 cover interview with PEOPLE, Parton revealed some of the secrets of her long marriage.
“I always joke and laugh when people ask me what’s the key to my long marriage and lasting love,” the “Jolene” singer said. “I always say ‘Stay gone!’ and there’s a lot of truth to that. I travel a lot, but we really enjoy each other when we’re together and the little things we do.”
Parton said the two take trips around Tennessee in their “little camper” and skip big date nights. Instead, they go to their favorite local restaurants.
“When I met my husband, he wanted to take me out to dinner,” Parton told PEOPLE. “He pulled up to the drive-in window and got our food at McDonald’s. We know a few little places we can go without being bothered. He only likes to go places where he can be comfortable!”
As for why they decided to do a big ceremony to renew their vows, Parton said she wanted to have the big wedding she didn’t get the first time.
“I never really felt like I had the wedding that we really wanted,” Parton told PEOPLE. “He got all dressed up and I got all dressed up. Fifty years is a long time for anything, and I felt that we needed to do something to commemorate this. It’s been a good 50 years and I don’t know how many more years we’ll have left.”
Parton’s latest big project is Heartstrings, a Netflix anthology series based on her songs. The first season is now available to stream.
Photo credit: NBC
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