Dolly Parton Tears Up While Talking Life After Husband Carl Dean’s Death: ‘It’s a Big Adjustment’

Dolly Parton got choked up while talking about her late husband, Carl Dean, during an on-camera interview two months after the businessman’s death.

While speaking about the 40th anniversary of her Dollywood theme park on TODAY Friday (May 2), the country superstar became visibly teary-eyed as soon as host Savannah Guthrie asked how Parton has been doing since Dean died at age 82 on March 3. “Oh, you know what, I get very emotional when people bring it up,” she began.

“But we were together 60 years,” Parton continued. “I’ve loved him since I was 18 years old. It’s a big adjustment, just trying to change patterns and habits. I’ll do fine, and I’m very involved in my work, and that’s been the best thing that could happen to me. But I’ll always miss him, of course, and always love him.”

She added, “He was a great partner to me.”

As Parton mentioned, she and Dean had been a couple since she was 18 — in fact, they first met the same day the “9 to 5” singer moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music. They got married in Georgia in 1966.

At the time of Dean’s death, Parton released a simple statement asking for privacy, writing, “Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years.”

Three days later, she thanked family, friends and fans for sharing their messages of condolences, and wrote on Instagram, “He is in God’s arms now, and I am okay with that. I will always love you.”

Dean was famously private, preferring to stay far out of reach of his wife’s spotlight. But while he was rarely spotted by the public, Parton once again mentioned how she’s received “so many cards, letters, flowers, from all over the world” in light of his passing on TODAY.

“I had no idea Carl Dean was so famous,” she said with a laugh.

Watch Parton’s full interview above.