Country singer Dolly Parton has attributed her long and happy marriage to “distance” from husband Carl Thomas.

The couple married in 1966 and she admitted that being on the road has helped her cope and survive all these years.

When asked about long-term marriage advice, she revealed to Vanity Fair: “Yeah, stay gone! We’ve been married for 50 years and I’ve been gone for about 47 of those. But the truth is, we’ve always been very compatible. To those that follow the signs, I’m a Capricorn and he’s Cancer, and those are very compatible signs.

But we’ve always had a good time together, and he’s got a great sense of humor and so do I. And he loves staying home and I love staying gone, so it’s worked out really well.”

Parton also says that the two have become more compatible over the years as a result.

“Well, it’s just grown deeper. The longer you live with somebody, the more you know them, and you take on all their traits as well as them taking all of yours. And you just have a deeper and better understanding – more of an appreciation. But we’ve always had a great respect for each other, and I think that’s been the thing that really and truly sustained us through the years.”

The artist revealed that her hit song, I’m Sixteen, was inspired by none other than her own sister, who fell in love again after numerous failed relationships.

She said: “I kind of patterned that after one of my sisters that had had a couple of really bad marriages, brokenhearted, and felt she’d never love again and felt it just wasn’t meant to be. But she found someone! And they both had had broken marriages. And they’re just like little teenagers and I just get such a kick out of watching them. I thought, ‘God, they think they’re 16!’ And so that’s really where I got the idea of writing that song.”