Dolly Parton Drops Affair Bomb, Explains Open Marriage

Dolly Parton has become known for sharing her personal life with her country music fans.

But has the country songstress really shared EVERYTHING with her followers?!

Some think that Parton has hidden parts of her life from the world. And that gossip led to a conspiracy theory that her husband Carl Dean doesn’t even exist!

As a result of those rumors, Dolly recently opened up to ET.

Parton admitted she knows that some country music fans think that her husband is imaginary.

“A lot of people have thought that through the years, because he does not want to be in the spotlight at all,” explained Dolly. “It’s just not who he is. He’s like, a quiet, reserved person and he figured if he ever got out there in that, he’d never get a minute’s peace and he’s right about that.”

But even as Parton sought to correct the conspiracy theory, she also has sought to be more open with her fans. And about those rumors that she and Carl have an “open marriage,” making affairs supposedly permissible? Find out what Dolly has revealed through the years below!

Dolly Parton Talks About Open Marriage

Defending Dean, Parton shared that she has deliberately sought to “keep him out of the limelight as much as I can.”

The country music songstress also revealed exactly what Carl told her, and how their relationship led to an open marriage.

“He said, ‘I didn’t choose this world, I chose you, and you chose that world. But we can keep our lives separate and together.’ And we do and we have.”

As a result of their many years together (Dolly and Dean wed in 1966), she shared that she’s often asked for the secret to a long marriage.

“I say, ‘Because I stay gone.’ And there’s a lot of truth in that — the fact that we’re not in each other’s faces all the time,” pointed out Parton.

The fact that the couple feel fine about their frequent separations has helped rather than harmed their relationship, added Dolly.

“But we do have a great respect and admiration for each other. We both have a great sense of humor. So, we have a lot of fun.”

And that respect apparently led to a mutual agreement to have an open marriage.

Dolly Parton Reveals Her Affair Outside ‘Open Marriage’

Rumors repeatedly have swirled that Dolly has had affairs. In the recent book “Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters With Dolly Parton,” excerpted by the Daily Mail, Parton discusses one affair with an unnamed “lover” that took place outside her “open marriage.”

That affair caused Dolly to suffer a “broken heart,” she revealed.

Parton felt so heart-broken that she took a gun and contemplated suicide. The country music songstress recalled crying “an ocean’s” worth of tears over the affair.

Recalling her suicidal depression, Dolly revealed what saved her.

“I was sitting upstairs in my bedroom one afternoon when I noticed in the nightstand drawer my gun that I keep for burglars. I looked at it a long time… Then, just as I picked it up, just to hold it and look at it for a moment, our little dog, Popeye, came running up the stairs,” Parton remembered.

“The tap-tap-tap of his paws jolted me back to reality I suddenly froze. I put the gun down. Then I prayed. I kinda believe Popeye was a spiritual messenger from God,” shared Dolly.

Since then, Parton has regained her positive attitude toward life. As for whether anyone will ever know the man with whom she had the affair? Some rumors indicate that her bandleader, Gregg Perry, was her partner.

Keep checking Country Music Lane for more Dolly Parton news and updates.