Dolly Parton Said That One of Her First Dates With Her Husband Was at a McDonald’s Drive-Thru

Photo credit: Jason Kempin - Getty Images
Photo credit: Jason Kempin - Getty Images

From Prevention

Dolly Parton is one of the biggest stars of all time, and while she’s opened up about many things in her life, she’s managed to keep her marriage of more than 50 years pretty private. But she recently shared some adorable anecdotes with PEOPLE about their relationship, including sharing that one of their first dates was at a McDonald’s.

In the interview, Dolly said that she and her husband Carl Dean, to whom she’s been married for 54 years, love a good date night and especially love a picnic.

“I’ll cook the stuff that I know we love. And I pack it up in a picnic basket. And then we’ll go find some riverbank somewhere with our little camper, park, have a picnic,” she said. “Or we’ll pull up to some little Days Inn motel, go in as long as the bed’s clean and there’s a bathroom. We just do our little things like that. Or I’ll do a candlelight dinner. We don’t make an issue of it.”

Sometimes, though, she said they do like to get fancy and though they prefer paper plates, she’ll get the good dishes out.

“It’s like certain days, you feel a certain way,” she continued. “And I’ll say, ‘I’m going to surprise him. And we’re going to have real cloth napkins and real crystal. I’m going to put the real china out instead of the paper plates we usually eat on because we don’t want to have to wash dishes.’”

So, about that McDonald’s date. They didn’t expand upon it in this particular interview but in a previous article, she explained that their first date was a McDonald’s drive-thru and said they still prefer picnics and smaller restaurants so they can fly under the radar.

“When I met my husband, he wanted to take me out to dinner. He pulled up to the drive-in window and got our food at McDonald’s,” she said at the time. “We know a few little places we can go without being bothered. He only likes to go places where he can be comfortable!”

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