Reba McEntire Endured Incredible Loss and Heartbreaks, but Finally Found Love With Longtime Friend | “We’re Inseparable”

McEntire said that "this is one of the happiest times" of her life.

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Emma McIntyre

By Suchitra B

May 19, 2023

Posted May 19, 2023

Reba McEntire has had a very difficult life. The 68-year-old, who's been married twice before, has endured her share of heartbreaks. In 1989, when she married Narvel Blackstock, she felt like things would be different. The former Reba star and Blackstock, who are the parents of Shelby Blackstock, had a lot of wonderful times together throughout their marriage. However, after 26 years together, they decided to call it quits, ending their love tale.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Reba (@reba)

“Narvel was her protector, her business partner, and manager, and it was really tough on her. She had no idea it was coming,” a friend of the country singer told Closer Weekly in 2019. “She felt sorry for herself for about a month, but then she snapped out of it.”

Image Source: Getty Images | Christopher Polk

Reba's father also passed in 2014, making the divorce that much harder on her. "I had my production manager who left, I had my CEO who left, my manager and husband, and my father had died. So four men who were rock and pillars of my world were gone," she shared with PEOPLE.

"Reba really learned that she can stand on her two feet, that she doesn't and never really did need a man to take care of her," the friend told Closer.

But when her mother died during the pandemic beginning in 2020, Reba really fell hard. And that's when she started seeing her longtime friend Rex Linn differently, per PEOPLE. "So starting in March of 2020, we just kept talking and visiting and finally got together, see each other in June," she said of Linn. "And we've been pretty much inseparable ever since."

Image Source: Getty Images | Jason Kempin

Reba also shared that the lockdown really took them on an interesting route, getting to know each other without any physical aspect. "It was a very special relationship, us getting to know each other without any physical aspect to it at all," McEntire said. "We'd talk in the morning, we started 'Coffee Camp' while I was staying in Oklahoma... We haven't missed a 'Coffee Camp'."

"I was in California, she was in Tennessee and sometimes my 'Coffee Camp' started at 3 a.m. but man I have never missed one; I don't wanna miss one," said Linn.

After divorcing her husband of 26 years, Narvel, McEntire claims she "really wasn't interested in finding love again," but she couldn't be happier that Linn entered her life. "He's the love of my life," she said to PEOPLE. "We're pretty much inseparable." McEntire said that "this is one of the happiest times of my life" and she has no intention of slowing down with the success of the TV series Big Sky, her upcoming tour, and steadfast love.