Dolly Parton has joked being absent for 47 years of her 50 year marriage has made it last.
The 70-year-old Jolene singer has been married to Carl Thomas Dean since 1966, making them one of the longest lasting couples in the celebrity world.
Asked in an interview if she has a secret to maintaining a happy marriage, Dolly laughed to Vanity Fair magazine: "Yeah, stay gone! We’ve been married for 50 years and I’ve been gone for about 47 of those. But the truth is, we’ve always been very compatible.
"To those that follow the signs, I’m a Capricorn and he’s Cancer, and those are very compatible signs... And he loves staying home and I love staying gone, so it’s worked out really well."
Carl has always shunned publicity and mostly leaves his wife to attend events on her own. But when it comes to their lives behind closed doors, Dolly insists her feelings for her spouse have only grown over the years.
"It’s just grown deeper," she told Vanity Fair, explaining her definition of love. "The longer you live with somebody, the more you know them, and you take on all their traits as well as them taking all of yours. And you just have a deeper and better understanding - more of an appreciation. But we’ve always had a great respect for each other, and I think that’s been the thing that really and truly sustained us through the years."
Dolly is undoubtedly one of the most famous names in country music and holds the title of the most honoured female country performer of all time. But when it comes to modern country singers, Dolly has some favourites - with Shake It Off singer Taylor Swift top of the list.
"I love Taylor Swift," she said. "I think what Taylor’s done has been amazing with bridging that gap, especially being a great model for younger kids and getting younger people involved and interested in country music. She’s a real favourite.
"But I love Miranda Lambert. I relate to her, I think, as much as anybody because we’re very similar in the kind of taste we have in music and that rawness. There’s just some kind of a rawness about her music that I relate to."
