Dolly Parton‘s late husband, Carl Dean, was a mystery man to the public for the most part, since he chose not to venture out in public with his superstar wife.

As it turns out, he was also pretty mysterious even to some of her famous friends. Reba McEntire and Parton are longtime friends and colleagues, and in an interview in 2024, McEntire admitted that even she had never met Dean.

Parton and Dean married on May 30, 1966. He adamantly stayed out of the spotlight after attending one music awards show with her early in their marriage, an experience he found enormously uncomfortable.

During an appearance on Andy Cohen Live, Cohen asked McEntire if Parton is as good a cook as she says she is.

“I don’t know,” she responded. “I’ve never had her food! She’s never invited me over.”

Cohen then asked if she had ever met Dean, to which she answered, “No, have you?”

“No, but people really do swear he exists,” he quipped, referencing a longstanding in-joke that Parton’s husband was so elusive, she might have made him up.

“Isn’t it incredible that she’s been able to keep this guy a secret this long?” Cohen said incredulously.

“Absolutely!” McEntire replied.

At least some of Parton’s friends and professional contacts met Carl Dean over the course of time. After his passing, Tanya Tucker turned to social media to share the time she went to the couple’s house when she was still in her teens, an experience she called “one of my most precious memories.”

Despite Dean’s private nature, Parton shared a throwback picture of them together in 2021, praising him for his private support over the years.

“Find you a partner who will support you like my Carl Dean does!” she wrote in the caption.

Carl Dean died on May 3, 2025, of undisclosed causes. He was 82 years old.