Dolly Parton‘s late husband, Carl Dean, who died on Monday (March 3) at 82, was such a man of mystery that even some of the country star’s closest friends had never met him, including Reba McEntire.

In a 2024 interview with Andy Cohen, McEntire was asked if Parton is a good cook, to which the former Voice coach replied, “I don’t know. I’ve never had her food! She’s never invited me over.”

This revelation led Cohen to ask whether or not McEntire had ever met Parton’s husband, to which she answered, “No, have you?”

“No, but people really do swear he exists,” Cohen quipped. “Isn’t it incredible that she’s been able to keep this guy a secret this long?

“Absolutely!” McEntire replied.

Parton and Dean married on May 30, 1966, and the only witnesses at the wedding were Parton’s mom, the pastor, and the pastor’s wife. The couple never had children, and Dean chose to remain out of the spotlight.

“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,” Parton said in a statement on Monday following his passing. “Words cannot do justice for the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”

As for why Dean was never seen in public, Parton explained in a podcast interview with Jelly Roll‘s wife, Bunnie Xo, last year that he was uncomfortable in the world of show business. She recalled how he once accompanied her to the BMI Awards not long after they tied the knot, and he hated it.

“I rented a tux and begged him to go,” Parton said of the event, where she was slated to receive her first-ever Songwriter of the Year award. “And he did, and oh, he was so uncomfortable the whole night.”

After the couple returned home, the “9 to 5” singer remembered, “He said, ‘Look now, I want you to do everything you want to do, and I wish you the best, but don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things, because I’m not doing it.’ And he never did.”

“I respected that,” she added. “I didn’t know he was gonna be that uneasy.”

In 2021, Parton shared a throwback photo of them together, noting how Dean was her biggest supporter behind the scenes. “Find you a partner who will support you like my Carl Dean does!” she captioned the post.

Speaking with the Associated Press in 1984, the “Jolene” singer joked, “A lot of people say there’s no Carl Dean, that he’s just somebody I made up to keep other people off me.”