Dolly Parton Reveals the Key to Her and Carl Dean's 57-Year Marriage

Dolly Parton knows absence makes the heart grow fonder.

The country music icon, 78, has been wed to her husband, Carl Dean, for 57 years — however, their lack of time together seems to be the key to keeping their romance fresh.

"I'm just saying, anything new gets old," Parton admitted. "I think if you just kind of stay together so much, you just nitpick every little thing and notice all that."

The "Jolene" vocalist, who doesn't have any children with her spouse, 81, explained how their focus on their separate careers has made their times together more interesting. "It's worked for us because we both do different things and it's exciting when we are together," Parton continued. "The fact that there's some little space that makes it exciting when you go home."

Even after nearly six decades, the blonde bombshell revealed the two still relish being around one another. "We just enjoy each other," Parton gushed.

"I like to cook. And one of the things that we like to do — not necessarily a date night, we have a lot of date days — we have our little RV and we like to travel around. Going down and get some food or I'll make a picnic and we go down to the river and have a picnic and just kind of ride around and do our little things," the 9 to 5 actress explained.

When asked if Dean has ever seen her without her signature done-up hairstyle and makeup, Parton noted, "Oh, of course!"

"Carl has seen me every which way. In fact, I remember when we first got married, I had just got out of the shower, and I didn't have my shoes on. He said, 'Well, you ain't big as a bar soap,'" she said.

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On her Apple Music show, the superstar dished on how they came to the decision to keep their love out of the public eye.

"Carl has never been in the limelight and all, never wanted to be in it," the chart-topper explained. "He went to one thing with me early on when we first married to a BMI Song of the Year, and he came out there taking off his tuxedo, his tie, and all that, and said, 'Don't ever ask me to go to another one of these d--- things because I ain't going.' I never asked him and he never did."

E! News conducted the interview with Parton.