For decades, Dolly Parton has been close as can be to her friend Judy Ogle.
But, despite what you may read in the tabloids, Dolly insists that's all she and Ogle are - best friends.
While Parton and her husband Carl Dean have been happily married for more than 50 years, rumors still claim that Ogle, who Parton called her "girlfriend," is the singer's secret lover.
For the first time, Parton set the record straight in a new interview.
"So people say that "“ because you can't really have a great relationship with a woman," Parton told The Sun. "I'm not gay but I have so many gay friends and I accept everybody who they are."
The dynamic duo of Parton and Ogle met 64 years ago, when their parents were close friends, and have been stuck together at the hip ever since.
"She was very quiet," Parton remembered, "I was very outgoing. So we made perfect friends. We went all through school together."
"People love to talk, people love to gossip. They've said that about Oprah but it's not true," she added, referring to similar rumors about Oprah Winfrey and her close friend Gayle King.
Asked and answered. But as Parton also shared in another recent interview, her relationship with Dean isn't perfect either.
While appearing on Good Morning Britain to promote the new stage adaptation of 9 to 5 in London, Parton confessed that Dean's musical tastes don't necessarily include her music.
"He felt like he'd get nervous if I messed up and all that," she said about a live performance. "He's not necessarily one of my biggest fans as [sic] my music..."
"He's proud of me. And he loves that I love what I do. I think it's just... it's a touchy subject. I'm like his little girl I think. He just worries about that."
Instead of her brand of catchy country music, Parton says her husband "likes hard rock and Led Zeppelin and bluegrass music."
Parton has also admitted that she had "an affair of the heart" in the 1980s, during a difficult time in her marriage, and said the strain of her infidelity almost drove her to take her own life.
"Now that I've gone through that terrible moment, I can certainly understand the possibilities even for someone solid like me if the pain gets bad enough," she wrote in her autobiographical book Dolly on Dolly.
Still, you can take it straight from Parton's mouth: she and Dean are doing just fine in their fifth decade as man and wife.
"He's a good man," she said. "It is a true love story and he's my best buddy "” he's crazy, he's funny. So I think laughter has been a big part of our relationship. We both have a lot of fun."
The singer, who famously never had children, says her many nieces, nephews, and godchildren (including singer Miley Cyrus) keep her and Dean plenty busy.
"My husband feels the same way. Now that we are older, we're almost kind of glad that we don't have a bunch of grandkids driving us crazy that we have to babysit if we don't want to."
