Dolly Parton will turn 80 in January, and she sadly lost her husband of almost 60 years, Carl Dean, passed away in Nashville at the age of 82 in March, and they had a beautiful love story.

The famous story goes that Dolly and Carl met outside of the Wishy Washy laundromat in Nashville in 1964, the same day that Dolly moved to Music City. They dated for two years, and decided they wanted to get married.

And actually, at the time of their wedding, Dolly’s newfound record label didn’t want her to get married at all. They thought it might tarnish her image, and as we all know, Dolly did what she wanted anyways… so she and Carl Dean secretly ran off to Ringgold, Georgia, along with Parton’s mom Avie Lee as a witness, and headed for the local courthouse.

Their relationship last for decades, and even though Carl stayed out of the spotlight and didn’t want anything to do with show business, they seemed to be very happy and leaned on each other for many different things throughout their lives.

During conversation with for Interview Magazine, where she poke with Zac Brown, Dolly talked about some of her health struggles that led to her rescheduling her Las Vegas residency that was supposed to be this month to September of 2026.

In addition to taking care of her health, Dolly revealed that she needed time to grieve her husband because she really never took the time. Dolly was back to work just two weeks after her husband died, and she understandably just needed a moment to catch her breathe.

But if you think she might be slowing down, or even considering retirement, think again… Dolly says she doesn’t think God’s done with her, though she has gotten a lot done while having some rare downtime at home:

“Oh, well, thank you. I took off for a little while because I never had a chance to take care of some things that I needed to be taken care of, and there was just still a lot of grief. I never had time to grieve and get all through that. But whatever happens to me, I think God’s going to take care of it.

I don’t think God’s done with me, and I ain’t done with me, and hopefully you ain’t done with me. But I’m enjoying being around home, getting a lot of stuff done.

We just stopped putting together a show because I was going to do that residency starting in Vegas, but I didn’t feel good enough to work up the kind of energy it takes to work up a show. But I’ll be back out there. I’ll be doing my thing, and you’ll be doing yours.”

While she’s obviously accomplished so much, and continues to work her behind off, Dolly says she’s done everything she could have dreamed of and more, and she wants to just continue to “make people happy and lift people up and [glorify] God”:

“No, I always say I’ve pretty much done everything, I just need a new bucket. It’s like when somebody says, ‘What you got on your plate?’ I say, ‘I have a platter. I don’t have a plate.’ My life is full of all kinds of things. But I can’t think of anything that I haven’t done that I haven’t planned to do.

I just want to be able to continue doing what I do. I like trying to make people happy and lift people up and glorifying God. That’s my mission in life, so I just hope to get to do more of that.”

I think Dolly has accomplished that mission and then some, and it’s clear through everything she does that she really is focused on those things and does it very well.

She is such an inspiration, and I’m sure when she hits the stage next year in Vegas, it will be just as spectacular as ever and full of that signature Dolly flair.

Everyone deserves a little rest and relaxation here and there, and even though Dolly isn’t typically one to slow down and sit around, it’s much deserved, and I’m sure she’ll be going into this new year refreshed after what was an incredibly challenging 2025.