Reba McEntire Reveals How She Raised Her Son Shelby to Not Be A 'Spoiled Brat' | "Proud of Him"

Reba McEntire is a legend in the truest sense. She spoke about how she raised her son Shelby to not be a 'spoiled brat', in an interview with PEOPLE. McEntire, 67, had Shelby with her former husband Narvel Blackstock in 1990. She wanted to pass down the values that she had learned growing up in Chockie, Oklahoma. "When we would play games or cards, I'd never let Shelby win," she says. "He wouldn't have learned anything that way. I always told Shelby, 'I'll always love you, but I want other people to like you. So don't be a little jerk. Don't be a spoiled brat," said McEntire.

Shelby seems to have learned well what her mother was trying to teach. "A lot of people have told me you would never know [he] had been blessed with the life he was given," McEntire said. "I'm very proud of him," she said. "He was a kid who had ADHD and could barely read in school, and now he has read 10 books this year. He's always trying to improve and do better. His daddy did a great job too," said the singer.

She said that Shelby was  "a gift from God" to her. "We're very close. I was a very self-centered person to a degree before Shelby. But then there's a little character who you are given the job to protect and nurture and love and teach, so all the attention's not on you anymore," she said. She also shared that she was thankful that she had "a lot of help" while Shelby was growing up. "I had the best nannies, and I took him on the road with me," she says. "When I couldn't, I would fly home after a concert, get him up in the morning, take him to school and pick him up. We'd play until I had to fly out again for a concert that night. I wanted to be with Shelby. Still do," said McEntire. When she had Shelby, she was already a superstar. She scored her first Top 10 country hit in 1980 and won three Grammys and hosted the Academy of Country Music Awards 16 times.

She is looking forward to meeting Shelby and his wife Marissa Branch in Nashville soon. "Shelby and Marissa are very busy with their jobs, but when I do get to go home to Nashville, we have brunch or a dinner and see them," McEntire said. She said that this is "one of the happiest times of my life."

She is currently filming for the NBC drama Big Sky with her boyfriend Rex Linn in Albuquerque. "I never would've thought in a million years I'd be doing an ABC drama at my age, but I am absolutely loving it," she says. "Now if I can just be a superhero or a supervillain in one of the Marvel movies, that would be the icing on the cake."

Reference:

https://people.com/country/reba-mcentire-reveals-how-she-raised-son-shelby-to-not-be-spoiled-brat/

Cover Image Source: Getty Images/ Jason Kempin