Why Dolly Parton Chose Not to Have Children With Her Husband Carl Thomas Dean

The iconic 9 to 5 star, Dolly Parton, who has sadly died at the age of 80, previously shared why she and her late husband, Carl Thomas Dean, chose not to have children.Speaking to Saga Magazine back in 2023, the country music star explained, “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. If I'd had kids, I'd have stayed at home with them, I'm sure, and worried myself to death about them.”She went on to add that she would “hate to be bringing a child into this world right now” given “everything that’s going on,” adding, “I always say God didn't let me have children so that all kids could be mine.”Dolly met her husband Carl Thomas Dean in 1964 outside a laundromat. Speaking of the moment, she later wrote (via CBS News), “I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me). He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”Luckily, Jolene didn’t take her man, and the two married in an intimate service two years later. The pair wed in Ringgold, a small town in Georgia, “because we knew that was where you could get your license and get married the same day,” she later told a local news station.The couple was private about their relationship throughout, rarely appearing in public together or discussing their marriage in interviews. Carl sadly passed away at the age of 82 in March 2025.That wasn’t the first time Dolly had spoken about why she and her husband never had children. In 2014, she told Billboard, “Early on, when my husband and I were dating, and then when we got married, we just assumed we would have kids.” She went on to reveal that she and her husband even had names picked out.But as Dolly pointed out during an episode of The Oprah Conversation on Apple TV in 2020 (via People), “Since I had no kids, and my husband was pretty independent, I had freedom. So I think a big part of my whole success is the fact that I was free to work.”Dolly's health may have also been a contributing factor. Like 10 percent of people with uteruses, the singer suffered from endometriosis, which can make it difficult to get pregnant. She was diagnosed at 33 and had a partial hysterectomy at 36.In her book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, she revealed the impact the operation had on her, writing (per The Sun), “Suddenly I was a middle-aged woman. I went through a dark time.”That said, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee said she doesn’t regret her decision to not have children. “I haven't missed it like I thought I might,” she wrote. “Now that Carl and I are older, we often say, ‘Aren't you glad we didn't have kids? Now we don't have kids to worry about.’”While she may not have been a mother herself, she had a special bond with her goddaughter Miley Cyrus, who called her Aunt Dolly.Lester Cohen//Getty Images“I love Miley. She's my little sweetheart. I've known her since before she was born, actually,” Dolly said on the Howard Stern Show back in 2023.The two regularly collaborated on music together over the years, with Miley often turning to her godmother for advice. Dolly went on to add, “She's very successful. Miley's very smart. She's very intuitive about the business, and I just think Miley's a spectacular human being and an amazing talent.”