Dolly Parton reveals poignant reason she never had kids with husband of 57 years

21 September 2023 , 07:37

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Dolly Parton reveals poignant reason she never had kids with husband of 57 years

Dolly Parton has admitted the real reason why she and long-time husband Carl Dean haven't had children, despite being married since 1966.

The country singer explained that she's "almost glad she never had children" and reflected on the progress of kids in today's current political climate, sharing that "we're not making any progress." She said: "It seems like we’re not making any progress, mostly because nobody’s trying. Nobody’s willing to listen to anybody else. Everybody already knows everything. You’re going to teach your children the same thing, whether it’s right or wrong," she added, before admitting that she already "worries herself to death" about her young relatives.

Dolly is almost glad she never had kids (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

She already worries enough about her young relatives (Katherine Bomboy/NBC via Getty Images)

"Everything is out there. Kids know everything, they see everything, they hear everything. We have to discuss stuff," Dolly told Mojo magazine. “I know this sounds like a selfish, awful thing to say, but I’m almost glad I never had children. I worry myself to death about my little nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews.”

Reflecting on her and her husband's decision to remain child-free, she said: "My husband and I, we just think of ourselves as each other’s child. He’s my only child, and I’m his only child.”

Dolly has previously addressed not having children in the past, telling Oprah in 2020 that she believes it was God' will and it allowed her to set up her book-gifting initiative for young children, called Imagination Library. She told the host at the time: "I didn’t have children because I believed that God didn’t mean for me to have kids so everybody’s kids could be mine, so I could do things like Imagination Library.

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Dolly previously said she things she would have been a good mother (Getty Images for The Rock and Ro)

“If I hadn’t had the freedom to work, I wouldn’t have done all the things I’ve done. I wouldn’t be in a position to do all of the things I’m doing now.”

However, in 2016, she told The Guardian that she thinks she would've been a "great mother" but probably would have "given up everything else" due to her guilt at leaving them to go on tour, for example. “Everything would have changed," she said. "I probably wouldn’t have been a star."

Lauren Gordon