Reba Says Rex Linn Is ‘The Love Of My Life’

Reba McEntire talked with People this week about her boyfriend Rex Linn, who she calls the love of her life, and how the couple was physically separated at the start of their relationship.

Reba said, "I'd known Rex since '91 when we worked on the movie The Gambler Returns with Kenny Rogers. Then in January 2020, I saw him again when I shot an appearance on the TV show Young Sheldon, which he is on. He said, 'Let's have dinner when you get through.' And I said, 'OK!' He made me laugh my butt off on our first date, which we didn't even know was a date."

Not long after their first date, the COVID-19 pandemic sent the world into lockdown, forcing them to spend time apart in separate states. She recalled, "He was in Los Angeles, and I was in Oklahoma because my Mama had just died. We didn't get to see each other from March to June, but we'd talk over Zoom and FaceTime four to five times each day. We created a bond and an intimacy that was getting to know each other without being physical."

Reba also told People that she wasn't interested in finding love again after her divorce from her ex-husband of 26 years, music manager Narvel Blackstock, in 2015. But she's happy that Linn came into her life. She offered, "He's the love of my life. We're pretty much inseparable."

It has also been fun playing man and wife in the latest season of ABC's drama Big Sky. She said, "To play husband and wife, it's natural for us. Rex and I rehearse all the time to make sure that when we step on that set, we're not wasting anybody's time. We're professionals. We have our stuff together; we show up on time, we're ready. We're not holding up anybody because time is money on the TV set."

Reba has just kicked off a new fall tour. But she still insists on making her man's coffee each morning, "I make Rex coffee every morning. He'll offer to make it, and I'll say, 'Nope. I want to do that for you.' I know I could easily say, 'Yeah, you go get it. I'm tired.' Nope. I always do the coffee camp."

She added, "The little things mean so much to me. It's also important to be attentive and listen to your partner's stories, even if you've heard them 100 times. I'll watch couples who have very successful marriages, and that woman will sit there and listen and smile at her husband's stories, and I'm like, 'How many times has she heard that?' I learned a lot from that."

Reba McEntire's songs have been the backbone of country music since the early 1980s. Reba has scored more than 20 number-one hits in her storied career and is considered one of the Queens of Country Music, alongside other Queens like Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn.

In 2024, Reba has outdone herself and now appears on national TV weekly as a coach for NBC's The Voice. In early February of this year (2024), she sang the National Anthem at the Super Bowl flawlessly and gracefully. She showed everyone in the world that she still has it as she approaches her 70s, celebrating her 69th birthday today (3/28).

She recently chatted with CMT and shared one of her most embarrassing moments on stage with them. CMT posted the fun interview clip on their Instagram.

In the clip, Reba is asked what her most embarrassing moment was. She quipped, "Oh gosh, how much time do you have?" The country icon recalled, "It was the early '80s, and I was headlining. I was going to make my way to stage right, and blue lights were gonna come on."

She continued, "I was gonna walk back on stage and sing 'Sweet Dreams' acapella. I did not remember this monitor being there on the floor, so when I was shuffling my way off stage right, I shuffled my toes right underneath that monitor and fell over on top of it."

She continued, "I crawled off stage and ripped my britches, but the show must go on so I dusted myself off and put my hand over where I ripped my britches. I came back out and did the song, and nobody knew the difference."

I have interviewed and spent a lot of time with Reba during my career as a country music journalist. Since the 1990s, I have discovered that Reba is a positive and very nice person. When you are around her, you forget she is a music icon because of how genuine and really down-to-earth she is.

In one of my most recent interviews with Reba, I told her about this list and asked what her top five Reba songs were; her response as she used her fingers to count, "' Fancy,' 'Is There Life Out There,' 'I'm A Survivor,' 'Can't Even Get The Blues,' 'Take It Back,' and 'Why Haven't I Heard From You,' that's six and 'Georgia,' ('The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia') 'Georgia' has to be in there too, that's seven."

And yes, "Fancy" would be her number-one song. She offered, "I just love story songs."

To celebrate her 69th birthday today (3/28), we dove deep into Reba's catalog to rate what we think are her 40 best songs.