In the late 1970s, Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Thomas Dean, got away from the hustle and bustle and stayed in secluded motels in Tennessee while renovations were made to their home.

Little did she know that her mini getaway with her long-term partner had the potential to spark rumors that she was having an affair, Breaking Celebrity News can reveal.

"People would see me pulling out of a motel early in the morning with this tall, dark and handsome man, and you could see they were shocked," she said in a resurfaced 1979 interview. "They all know I'm married, and they thought I was cheating."

"What I've really been doing is shacking up with my husband, and we've had one great time," she added.

Sometimes, the married couple also stayed in a trailer in the woods.

"I'd put on my old galoshes and my old clothes, and we'd walk up to the trailer through real deep mud that got all over me, and I'd keep thinking, 'Boy, if my fans could see me now,'" the Jolene singer teased.

While they were waiting for the renovations to be finished, Parton and Dean also got nostalgic and visited a park they used to go to when they were dating.

The pair met in 1964 and tied the knot in 1966.

"We're both very romantic, and this was just a wonderful romantic time for us," Parton shared.

Although Parton and Dean tried to have kids "for many years," it never happened for them.

"I think I would have made a nice mama," the country music icon once said. "I put it on hold because my career was doing so well and I was on birth control pills. Later, I came off them and still nothing happened."

She was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis. In 1984, she had a partial hysterectomy.

"I don’t feel sad about it," she added at the time. "When I started doing work for children’s charities, I thought maybe God didn’t want me to have kids so that everybody else’s kids could be mine."

During a 2023 appearance on Zoe Ball's Radio 2 Breakfast Show, Parton reflected on what made her marriage work.

"There's the respect and the love, and I just like him!" she shared. "You know, I would have liked him if he wasn't my husband, if he was somebody else's husband I say, 'You know that Carl Dean, ain't he funny? Ain't he a good guy?' So, I think it's just that mutual respect and we just like each other."

The happy couple was married for nearly 60 years and remained together until their deaths.

Dean died in March 2025 at age 82.

Roughly a year and a half later, Parton passed away after a brief battle with cancer on August 25. She was 80.