Dolly Parton Makes First Public Appearance Since Death of Husband Carl Dean

Along with the usual questions about her secrets to marital success, Parton also fielded her share of inquiries about her and Dean’s status as a family of two.

“I used to think I should regret it,” Parton told Billboard about not having children. “Early on, when my husband and I were dating, and then when we got married, we just assumed we would have kids. We weren’t doing anything to stop it. In fact, we thought maybe we would. We even had names if we did, but it didn’t turn out that way. Now I say, ‘God didn’t mean for me to have kids so everybody’s kids could be mine.'”

She shared with The Guardian that if they’d ever had a little girl, they would’ve named her Carla, and she and Dean thought a lot about what their kids might have been like.

“I would have been a great mother, I think,” Parton said. “I would probably have given up everything else. Because I would’ve felt guilty about that, if I’d have left them [to work]. Everything would have changed. I probably wouldn’t have been a star.”