Dolly Parton, who’s been married to husband Carl Dean for 56 years and counting, dropped some love advice during a recent sit-down with ET Canada, explaining what’s kept their relationship going strong through the decades.
“We love each other. We respect each other. We both have a warped sense of humor,” Dolly says. “I think humor, honestly, is one of the best things when you’re married like that.”
Carl famously avoids the spotlight, unlike his superstar wife, and Dolly says she thinks that space has helped their love stay strong over the course of their marriage. “I stay gone,” she jokes. “You know, there’s a lot to be said about that. So we’re not in each other’s face all the time.”
Even for couples who don’t have such a dramatically different relationship with fame, like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, who have even toured together, alone time is key.
“We both have our daily routines and we have our own dressing rooms,” Faith told People in 2018. “We each have our own space to retreat [to] so we do get time to ourselves.”
Another country power couple, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, say their 17-year marriage gets a boost when they make sure to be each other’s champions.
“I think you gotta treat it like a duet,” Garth reflected during a 2021 episode of The Ellen Show, which he and Trisha were guest hosting. “You gotta harmonize. You gotta make your partner feel like they’re a star.”
He added, “And if not, you’re gonna turn into a solo act pretty damn quick, if you know what I mean.”
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