Country music icon Reba McEntire has found love once more — and this time, it’s leading her to the altar. After five years of dating, McEntire and actor Rex Linn are officially engaged.
The news broke when an E! Online reporter casually referred to Linn as McEntire’s fiancé on the red carpet at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards. The couple didn’t correct the slip, and a representative later confirmed the happy news to Fox News Digital.
McEntire, 70, and Linn, 68, first met way back in 1991, but their relationship didn’t blossom until decades later. The two reconnected in 2020 after McEntire guest-starred on Young Sheldon, where Linn was already a cast member. That same year, as McEntire’s mother grew ill, Linn reached out. “In 2020, when Mama got sick, he called me,” McEntire recalled on Today. “We’d gotten to see each other before because we’re both on Young Sheldon. So starting in March of 2020, we just kept talking and visiting and finally got together, see each other in June. And we’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since.”
The couple’s bond grew during the early days of COVID-19, when long-distance communication brought them closer. “We didn’t get to see each other from January till June 16 [due to COVID], but we created an intimacy by texting and talking over the telephone that we wouldn’t have gotten if we’d have been together all of that time,” McEntire explained. “It was very special. It was a great way to find out about each other without ever touching.”
She added, “We’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since June 16 of 2020.”
For McEntire, this new chapter comes after some tough years. She’s been married twice before — to rancher Charlie Battles from 1976 to 1987, and to her former manager Narvel Blackstock from 1989 until their divorce in 2015. After those painful endings, she admitted she wasn’t sure she’d ever walk down the aisle again.
“I’ve been married twice. After the second one dissolved, I don’t have much faith in… being bound by a piece of paper or a ring,” she told E! News last year. “But I’m truly committed to Rex, so if that’s something he feels totally strong about, that’s fine with me. He’s never been married before. So if he wants to experience that, I’m OK with that.”
It seems Linn did want that commitment — and now, they’re taking the leap together.
McEntire often gushes about the connection she shares with Linn, whom she affectionately calls “Sugar Tot.” “Our connection is like a magnet.”
Earlier this year, she praised their bond in an interview with Fox News: “We get along in every aspect. He’s a better cook than I am, so I like that, for sure. We love Longhorns, we love the cowboy way of life, cowgirl way of life, and we both got into the entertainment industry.”
Their partnership extends to their professional lives, too. The couple now star together on the sitcom “Happy’s Place.” For Linn, working alongside McEntire is “a dream come true.” “We are best friends. We wanna cross the finish line with each other in a relationship.”
He also admitted he sneaks in little romantic moments on set: “Every once in a while, I’ll sneak by for a quick kiss, just a peck on the cheek and keep on moving. It’s fun.”
McEntire summed up their relationship beautifully in a 2024 interview: “Every day is Valentine’s Day for us. We’re just silly, goofy people in our 60s that love life [and] love each other. We have fun. We’re dorky, goofy, and we have similar interests in just about everything, so it’s just fun all the time.”
After years of heartache, it seems Reba has finally found her forever — and fans couldn’t be happier to see her smiling again.