Dolly Parton has been an open book lately, although she’s been quite honest her entire career. And she recently spoke to Daily Mail about many things in her life, touching on the fact that she never did have kids.

The 72-year-old singer, actress, author, *takes deep breath,* businesswoman, philanthropist, and much, much more has been married to her husband Carl Thomas Dean since 1966. But no children have been brought into the Parton family. And now Dolly is speaking about why that is. “It just wasn’t meant for me to have children,” Dolly tells the outlet. “When my husband and I first met, we assumed we would have kids, and I even had names picked out, but it never did happen…”

Dolly Parton
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“But we always had a lot of family around – a lot of my younger siblings came to live with my husband and me in Nashville and some of them went to school there,” Dolly adds. “They loved being with me, and I loved having them. And now I have the Imagination Library and have worked with so many kids. So my husband and I don’t regret it – we think about it sometimes and say, ‘Lord, if we had some kids and grandkids now, they’d be driving us crazy!’ So this way, we just get to be each other’s kids.”

And that Imagination Library Dolly mentions is a childhood literacy program that Dolly founded in 1995. It now operates in America, Canada, Britain, and Australia. “I’ve seen my dreams come true,” Dolly says. “Now that I’m successful, I try to share that as much as possible with everyone I can – I don’t just want to take and take from the business, I want to be in a position where I can help people.”

Dolly Parton
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“The wonderful thing about being in a good position in life is that once you’re there, you can really get to do good things for mankind, and not just for yourself,” Dolly adds.

Dolly and Carl will be celebrating 53 years of marriage next May. That’s right. 53 years with no kids. Which might explain the fact why Dolly is always bubbly and full of life. Hey, there has to be a connection there.