Dolly Parton may be the Queen of country music, but she has a lot of happiness in her personal life to attribute to her 54-year-strong marriage to Carl Dean; A union that many, including her fans, don’t even know exists thanks to how private she has kept that side of her life. 

In a candid new conversation with Entertainment Tonight, the singer opened up about the successes of her relationship and how she has maintained a happy home life with Dean for over half a century.

“He does not want to be in the spotlight at all,” Parton told the publication about why her husband is largely considered to be recluse in comparison to his hyper famous wife. “That’s just not who he is. 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.”

The singer went on to admit that it has almost become a running joke that so many people don’t even believe he exists. After a semi-public remarriage on their 50th anniversary, she joked that “Now he tells everybody I’m his second wife.”

So how exactly do the couple keep their relationship going so strong after so much time, despite their differences? “Because I stay gone,” she explained during the interview, a bit jokingly but still grounded in some truth. “And there’s a lot of truth in that — the fact that we’re not in each other’s faces all the time.”

She went on to say that although Dean has made it known that he isn’t the biggest fan of her music, they still have a lot of respect and admiration for each other as people.

Parton explained during an interview with “Good Morning Britain” last year that “He’s not necessarily one of the biggest fans of my music, he’s proud of me and he loves that I love what I do but … It’s a touchy subject. I’m like his little girl and he worries about that.”

Despite that major difference, the singer said that their relationship is as strong as could be, and they are consistently the most supportive people in each other’s lives regardless.

When they are spending quality time together, the award-winning performer said that they bond over a mutual love of travel.

“We have very similar tastes… we love to travel around our little RV, and we don’t like parties and all that stuff,” she explained.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic seriously hindered many artists, including Parton’s, plans for the year, the music mogul still has put together plenty of things for fans, including the recent release of her new book and Christmas album just ahead of the holiday season.