Dolly Parton is still figuring out how to move forward following the loss of her husband, Carl Dean.
Two months after Dean's death, Parton has turned to her faith for support getting through her grief.
"I am a person of faith, and I truly believe that I’m going to see him again someday," the legendary singer-songwriter said in a new interview with the Associated Press. "I see him every day in my memories and in my heart, and in all the things that we used to do and all the things that we've built together."
She added, "You just kind of have to learn to kind of make new plans — but that's the hardest part."
Dean died March 3 in Nashville, at 82. The famously private couple were married for 58 years, and Parton told the AP she can still feel her late husband's presence pushing her forward.
"I just try to go on, because I know I have to," she said. "He was ill for quite a while, and part of me was at peace that he was at peace and not suffering anymore. But that still doesn't make up for the loss and the loneliness of it."
Thankfully, the 79-year-old recording artist noted that her busy schedule and entrepreneurial spirit have given her an outlet. Parton is currently promoting her new Southern-inspired frozen meals and the 40th anniversary season of her theme park, Dollywood.
"I just think that I've always had dreams and I'm always working," Parton said. "My husband understood that. Carl knew that better than anybody and he was all about it. He was very proud of me."
She added that, after his death, she made a decision to "'take all of that energy" and "put that back into other things" in order to "keep him ever-present in everything that I do."
Though Dean opted to stay out of the spotlight, the couple had an arrangement that worked for them — and Parton said she always felt supported.
"My husband always said, 'If anybody was ever born to be a star, it's you,'" she recalled. "Because he sees me loving to do all the things and playing and stuff — it’s play time for me. But I take it very serious."
Curtis Hilbun/Dollywood
Dolly Parton celebrates the 40th anniversary of DollywoodParton kicked off Dollywood's 40th anniversary season in March by surprising attendees with a special performance at the park, which is located in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. That marked Parton's first public appearance after Dean's death.
"Of course, I will always love [Dean], and I'll miss him, but I wanted you to know that I will always love you," Parton told attendees, referencing her 1974 song "I Will Always Love You" (famously covered by Whitney Houston). She added, "He is in God's arms now, and I am okay with that."
"Like all great love stories, they never end," Parton wrote. "They live on in memory and song. He will always be the star of my life story, and I dedicate this song to him."