Dolly Parton Shares Rare Photo of Husband Carl Dean

It’s been years — maybe even decades — since Dolly Parton and her husband Carl Dean were captured in a photograph together. A new (old) picture shared on the country singer’s Instagram page emphasizes the point.

Parton has been feeding fans a steady diet of throwback photos on social media, including the cover of her famous Playboy magazine shoot from 1978 and several with the late Kenny Rogers.

Her latest share finds her holding hands with Dean, who is quite a bit taller than Parton, but with his own distinct features. The businessman has dark hair and a strong chin and appears to be wearing a Dolly Parton T-shirt. Hey, if Parton says it’s true, we’re not going to question her — or put the shirt under a microscope — for confirmation:

“Find you a partner who will support you like my Carl Dean does,” Parton writes.

The couple were married in May 1966, when she was 20 and he was 23 years old. She would release her first studio album Hello, I’m Dolly one year later. They never had kids, and Parton has attributed that freedom of family obligations to her success. Various outlets have reported that Dean ran an asphalt-laying company in the Nashville area for many years.

From time to time Parton talks about their life together, but never in much detail. Last December she told the podcast Table Manners that, “My husband and I have been together for 57 years, been married 54, and I’m sick of him, and I’m sure he’s sick of me.”

Earlier this year she revealed that she turned down a chance to perform at the Super Bowl in 2015 because Dean was very ill. She never revealed his diagnosis and hasn’t said anything about his health since.