EXCLUSIVE: Dolly Parton's Private Secrets Revealed After 50 Years

Dolly Parton was "drowning in grief" after the death of her beloved husband, Carl Thomas Dean, before her own passing on August 25 at age 80.

But RadarOnline.com has learned the country music icon kept her marriage with Dean healthy by allegedly dabbling in extramarital affairs – which he was said to be fully aware of.

Before Dean's death in March 2025 at age 82, Parton admitted the devoted couple thought flirting with others was "fine" and explained, "It’s very healthy for the both of us."

In 1984, she even confessed, "I've had my little affairs," adding, "I've been tempted many times, and I admit I've given in more than once — but not as many times as people believe."

One of those supposed times allegedly involved her hunky security guard, Mark Kiracofe. In the early 1990s, insiders claimed the Grammy winner and her side squeeze kept their affair a secret by concealing their affection in public.

"They are just very, very discreet about the whole thing," an insider whispered at the time. "On the road they're always registered in separate rooms — even though in most cases, the rooms are adjoining."

But sources claim that fling developed into something much more, and Parton fell head over heels for divorced Kiracofe after he joined her team as her chief of security in 1989. Their reported relationship lasted six years — until sources say the bodyguard gave the Nashville legend an ultimatum in 1996: "You have to decide — it’s Carl or me."

For Parton, it was always Dean, and the couple remained married for nearly 60 years. However, some inside the Jolene singer's inner circle confided that "Mark was the love of her life.

"Over the years, she had her flings, and Carl had his. But Dolly never had anything quite like this before," the insider revealed.

Still, Parton publicly denied "having s--" with other men and insisted that their marriage was not open physically, but only to flirting in an excerpt from Dolly on Dolly Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton.

Perhaps the only thing bigger than Parton's heart was her hair. The icon synonymous with her big, blonde wigs once quipped they were "a fire hazard."

The country music superstar famously patterned her look "after the town tr-mp in our hometown."

"I thought she was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen. She had the peroxide blond hair piled up on top, the high heel shoes, the tight skirt."

Parton revealed she was introduced to wigs by her first hairstylist, Colleen Owens, when she was starting out in the music industry.

"I used to try to keep my own hair teased as big as I like it, and having the bleach and all of that, it just broke off," she said. "I thought, 'Why am I going through all that?'"

Wigs offered a practical solution for the fashion-loving songbird.

"It was handy to have several looks that I could just choose from, and never have a bad hair day," she said.

Some of her 350 wigs — one for almost every day of the year — are on display at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort & Spa, near the theme park she founded in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

Her husband joked that her hairpieces made her look even more top-heavy.

"When I wear this big hair, because I'm so tiny, my husband always says I look like a Q-tip," she once said. "It’s nothing but a big white wad on my head!"