Ten-time Grammy Award-winning country music icon and actor Dolly Parton died at the age of 80 on Tuesday. Her team confirmed that she died after a “brief battle with cancer.”

“After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones,” said the statement.

While Dolly had never revealed she had cancer, she did hint at some “health issues” last week.

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Dolly Parton’s last health update before death

Last Friday, Dolly Parton explained why she had missed several events she was scheduled to attend. “I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” she told People, referring to her husband Carl Dean, who died at the age of 82, in March last year.

“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” Dolly said at the time of Carl’s death. However, no cause of death for Carl was revealed.

In a later interaction with AP, Dolly said, “He was ill for quite a while, and part of me was at peace that he was at peace and not suffering anymore. But that still doesn’t make up for the loss and the loneliness of it. I just try to go on, because I know I have to.”

Carl Dean and Dolly Parton tied the knot in 1966.

She further said that it’s her faith that’s helped her deal with Carl’s death. “I am a person of faith, and I truly believe that I’m going to see him again someday. And I see him every day in my memories and in my heart, and in all the things that we used to do and all the things that we’ve built together.”

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“You just kind of have to learn to kind of make new plans — but that’s the hardest part. When I did lose him, I just thought, well, I’m going to take all of that energy, and I’m just going to put that back into other things, and I’ll keep him ever-present in everything that I do,” added the seasoned singer.

Dolly Parton, Carl Dean’s love story

Dolly Parton and Carl Dean, who were married for almost 60 years before his death, first met when she was 18. She’d just moved to Nashville, and bumped into him outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat. “I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me). He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about,” Dolly recalled. After their first encounter in 1964, they tied the knot in 1966.

Carl had a huge impact on Dolly’s music and career, as he even inspired one of her most popular songs, “Jolene” (1973). That was the name of a flirtatious banker who would often hit on her husband whenever they visited the bank. “She got this terrible crush on my husband. And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one,” revealed Dolly.

He inspired her music not only in the first decade of their marriage, but also in the last one. She credits him for shaping her 2023 rock album Rockstar. “He’s a big rock and roller. The song ‘My Blue Tears’ is one of my husband’s favourite songs that I ever wrote. I thought, ‘Well, I better put one of Carl’s favorites of mine in here,'” added the singer.

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With an asphalt-paving business in Nashville, Carl Dean was blissfully removed from the world of entertainment. That remained the case even into his marriage with Dolly Parton, with the latter even joking that people thought her husband doesn’t exist, and is only a cover for her to keep lecherous men at bay. But she was extremely close to his family, including his mother, whom she referred to as “Mama Dean.”

Perhaps, as Dolly leaves this world, she will finally be reunited with Carl, who passed away more than a year ago. Her nephew Bryan Seaver’s statement on Tuesday stated, “Dolly has lived in the light, and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens.”