The legendary country music star Reba McEntire is officially engaged to the actor Rex Linn, who she’s been dating for five years. This came as a welcome surprise to her fans, as McEntire had previously admitted to losing faith in marriage after two bitter divorces.
McEntire And Linn Engaged
On Sunday night, McEntire, 70, and Linn, 68, walked the red carpet together at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards. There, an E! News reporter referred to the couple as fiancés, and they didn’t correct her. Insiders have since confirmed that they are in fact engaged!
“It happened a few months ago and they are very happy,” a source told People Magazine of the engagement.
McEntire and Linn first met on the set of their 1991 TV movie The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw. They remained just friends for decades. It wasn’t until 2020 that things took a romantic turn when they reunited on the set of Linn’s show Young Sheldon, which McEntire was guest starring on.
“In 2020, when Mama got sick, he called me,” McEntire recalled on Today in October of 2021. “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,” she added.
McEntire Lost Faith In Marriage
Though she’s been madly in love with Linn for years now, McEntire has long been open about her reluctance to walk down the aisle again after two failed marriages left her heartbroken.
While appearing on Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen in 2023, McEntire was asked if she’d get married to Linn.
“That would be up to him,” McEntire replied. “I’ve been married twice, he’s never been married, so if he wants to, that’s totally up to him.”
The next year, McEntire confessed that she doesn’t have “much faith” in marriage after her two divorces.
“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 admitted to E! News.
“But I’m truly committed to Rex,” she continued. “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.”
McEntire was first married to the cattle rancher Charlie Battles from 1976 until they divorced in 1987. She then married her former manager Narvel Blackstock in 1989, remaining with him until they divorced in 2015.
“The divorce was not my idea. I didn’t want it in any shape, form or fashion,” McEntire revealed one year after her split from Blackstock. “So, it was really hard to make the adjustment when someone’s not happy. I just want everybody to be happy in their lives, because our lives are too short to be miserable.”
McEntire’s ‘Perfect Union’ With Linn
Thankfully, McEntire appears to have had her faith in marriage revived by Linn. Earlier this year, she told Fox News that they “get along in every aspect.”
“He’s a better cook than I am, so I like that, for sure,” she gushed. “We love Longhorns, we love the cowboy way of life, cowgirl way of life, and we both got into the entertainment industry.”
In the end, McEntire believes that she and Linn have the “perfect union.”
“He’s an actor. I’m a singer,” she concluded. “I love to act. Now we act together.”
We’re so glad that after years of heartbreak, McEntire is ready to give marriage another shot. We’d like to wish McEntire and Linn many years of happiness to come!