“We have an open relationship,“ Dolly Parton said of her husband of 53 years, “but not sexually and I would kill him if I thought he was doing that. He would shoot me too. At the end of the day we love each other madly.”

Exclusive photos courtesy DailMail.com

Dolly Parton’s husband, Carl Dean, 77, has rarely been seen outside their Brentwood, Tennessee, estate in 40 years, but here he is in a rare public sighting.

Dolly and Carl got married in 1966 in a small Georgia ceremony just two years after meeting outside a laundromat.

But all these years, Carl “barely leaves the house and doesn’t really interact with people unless he absolutely has to – the total opposite of Dolly,” said a source.

“He’s always supporting me as long as I don’t try to drag him in on it,” said Dolly. ‘’He’s always been my biggest fan behind the scenes, but he’s at home.”

Dolly “loves him with all her heart but they’re largely living separate lives and have been for some time,” said a friend, writes Kelby Vera for DailyMail.com.

That doesn’t mean their relationship has been without drama, adds Vera.

Dolly admitted that she once had an “affair of the heart,” without being specific if it was also an affair of the body.

“‘It just about killed me, I cried an ocean.”

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Here’s Dolly performing in Glastonbury, England, in 2014.

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