Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Dean, were married for almost 60 years. The couple never had children of their own, a decision Dolly spoke about several times. Now, after her passing, an article about her revealing the name of her unborn daughter resurfaces.
Dolly Parton passed away on August 25. The legendary actress passed away following a brief cancer battle, surrounded by her family.
Dolly Parton’s husband, Carl Dean, passed away in March last year. After her husband of nearly 60 years died, she struggled and took a step back. Now, she is reunited with Carl.
But while their love story stretched for more than seven decades, they decided not to have children. Dolly spoke sevearl times about the decision to not have children, for example with Today. The arist simply stated that she had to give it up to continue her career.
“I’ve made sacrifices, but I think, like I said, I believe what I know I’m supposed to do,” Dolly Parton said.
“I’ve made the sacrifice of time… and not having time to spend with family, and you give up family and friends, vacation, and work without end, 24/7, 365, but you got to make the sacrifice,” she added.
Why Dolly Parton never had children
In a 2020 episode of The Oprah Conversation, the singer explained to Oprah Winfrey that not being a mother gave her an independence that ultimately allowed her career to thrive.
“Since I had no kids, and my husband was pretty independent, I had freedom,” she said. “So I think a big part of my whole success is the fact that I was free to work.”
Dolly Parton added, “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, because if I hadn’t had the freedom to work, I wouldn’t have done all the things I’ve done,” she told Winfrey.
“I wouldn’t be in a position to do all of the things I’m doing now.”
Despite not having children, Dolly Parton revealed in an interview with The Guardian in 2014 how she and her husband early on imagined the family they might have.
Before her death, Dolly Parton revealed name she had chosen for unborn daughter
Moreover, the legendary musician also revealed what she would have called the baby if it was a daugher.
“My husband and I, when we first got married, we thought about if we had kids, what would they look like? Would they be tall – because he’s tall? Or would they be little squats like me? If we’d had a girl, she was gonna be called Carla… Anyway, we talked about it, and we dreamed it, but it wasn’t meant to be. Now that we’re older? We’re glad,” Dolly Parton told The Guardian.
She added, “I would have been a great mother, I think. I would probably have given up everything else. Because I would’ve felt guilty about that, if I’d have left them [to work, to tour]. Everything would have changed. I probably wouldn’t have been a star.”
Despite not having children of her own, Dolly wanted to give it all to other children. Therefore, in 1995, she created the Imagination Library. Its purpose was to send free books to children from birth to age five to inspire a passion for reading.
Imagination Library
She created it as a tribute to her father, who could not read or write. As of today, more than 300 million books have been distributed.
“Before he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my Daddy. He was the smartest man I have ever known but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams,” Dolly said, per the Imagination Library website.
“Inspiring kids to love to read became my mission. In the beginning, my hope was simply to inspire the children in my home county but here we are today with a worldwide program that gives a book a month to well over 3 million children.”
Rest in peace, Dolly Parton.
