As sweet and touching as the relationship between Dolly Parton and her husband Carl Dean was, it's surprising they didn't have kids. Most people who spend over 50 years together end up trying to share it with young kids. However, they were just never that kind of couple. But how come we don't have any mini Partons running around. It's quite simple.
Videos by Wide Open Country
During a conversation with Oprah Winfrey for her Apple TV show in late 2020, Dolly gives a simple reason why her and Carl Dean never had children. It allows her to focus further on her career rather than pivot to caretaker. "Since I had no kids, and my husband was pretty independent, I had freedom," Parton explains. "So I think a big part of my whole success is the fact that I was free to work."
Dolly Parton Remains Flexible and Free to Continue Career by Not Having Kids
Ultimately, Parton looks at the Lord above as why she didn't have any kids of her own. At the end of the day, it wasn't her purpose on earth. Additionally, she looks at the situation as a blessing in other ways. Now, she has bandwidth to work personally with more kids than ever. "I didn't have children because I believed that God didn't mean for me to have kids so everybody's kids could be mine, so I could do things like Imagination Library because if I hadn't had the freedom to work, I wouldn't have done all the things I've done," Dolly explains. "I wouldn't be in a position to do all of the things I'm doing now."
Parton finishes by adding that this was a sacrifice that she took on with Carl Dean. So evidently, she probably wanted kids. But thankfully, she found new purpose in other ways and she made sure to have special moments with her late husband to make up for it. In an interview with Parade, Dolly adds the cute things she would do with him. "We drive through these little drive-thru restaurants," she says. "We sightsee all of Tennessee and Kentucky, the areas that we can get back home from at night. Sometimes we'll stay over at a Days Inn [motel] where we can just pull up and sneak me in. We don't care, as long as the bed's clean and there's a bathroom. That's how we live."
