Dolly Parton built an extraordinary career across music, film, business and philanthropy, but one deeply personal chapter changed the family life she once imagined.

The country music legend married Carl Dean in 1966, shortly after moving to Nashville as an 18-year-old aspiring performer.

Their marriage lasted nearly six decades, even as Dean remained outside the spotlight and Parton traveled, recorded music and expanded her career.

Parton grew up as the fourth of 12 children in rural Tennessee and remained closely connected to her extended family.

However, she and Dean never became parents themselves.

After a serious medical crisis and surgery in the early 1980s, Parton learned that she could not have children.

Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2003, Parton recalled nearly collapsing onstage in Indianapolis during a period of serious physical and emotional difficulties.

She underwent surgery in 1982 for what she…