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Reba McEntire turns 68! Singer suffered many heartbreaks before finding happiness in Rex Linn

‘The Queen of Country’ claimed to feel like a 'giddy teenager again' after being in love with the actor

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: Reba McEntire celebrated her 68th birthday on March 28, and it has been said that the singer has finally found happiness in her current lover, actor Rex Linn. Reba’s professional life has mostly been great since she entered the industry in the 1970s and as per reports, ‘The Queen of Country’ has sold over 46 million records since then.

However, it was her personal life that was not without tears and heartbreaks. After being born in March 1955, in Chockie, Oklahoma, the actress first followed her rodeo goals, where she met her first husband, Charlie Battles. At the age of 21, she got married to Battles, who was 31 at the time. But their marital life did not sail eternally and in 1987, they divorced each other.

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‘I loved Charlie with all my heart’

After the separation, Reba reportedly said, “I loved Charlie with all my heart, I wanted to marry him ...We had a lot of fun. We rodeoed together, we ranched together. I guess I chose my career over my marriage.”

Later, ‘The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia’ singer met her second husband, Narvel Blackstock, who first became her manager. In June 1989, the pair exchanged vows. Almost a year later, they also welcomed their first and only child, Shelby McEntire Blackstock.

In 2015, Reba posted the sweetest 25th birthday post for her son with a throwback photo and a caption that said, “Look what God gave us 25 years ago!!! Happy Birthday Shelby!! @shelbyblackstock #bestdayever #thankyouGod #thankyounarvel #momclub.” However, that year, she suffered one of her life’s toughest heartache — her husband of nearly three decades wanted a divorce from her.

‘The divorce was not my choice’

Speaking about it, she told cohost Melissa Peterman and guest Dolly Parton during a new episode of her ‘Living & Learning’ podcast, “The divorce was not my choice. I did not want it at all. So it was left up to me [to be like], ‘OK, kid, how are you going to handle this?’”

However, with the divorce, not only did Reba’s personal life seemed to drift apart, her professional life was hit as well since it was Blackstock who was taking care of her business and finances. In 2021, she shared as reported by PEOPLE, “Things started going south with my marriage. Narvel Blackstock, my manager and husband at the time — we got a divorce, and the shocker of it all was, there were four people who were taking care of all my business.”

‘I had to run it all through God’

“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. I started taking over signing the checks and then I started realizing how much water cost, and the electric bill, and all the things that were going on in my life. I made the money, I brought it home. So it was a huge, huge change for me,” she explained.

Expressing her gratitude toward God, Reba stated, “Everything that I was dealing with privately, personally — I had to run it all through God. I had to say, 'OK big boy, I can't handle this. This is way over my pay grade — I don't know what to do.’ And I would wait, and He would guide me. And so without my faith, I have no idea where I would be or my career would be, at this time today.”

‘We’re giving God all the credit’

But ‘I'm a Survivor’ singer faced another blow in 2020 when she lost her mother Jacqueline in March. Grieving her death, Reba wrote on Instagram, “She had a wonderful, full, healthy life and was absolutely ready to go. The cancer might think it won the battle but we’re giving God all the credit on selecting the time for her to go home to Him. She was ready to see our Daddy, her mama and daddy and all her family and friends.”

“Down here, Alice, Pake, Susie and I, grandkids and great grandkids all got to visit with her either in person or over the phone. She left knowing how much she is loved and we all know how much she loved us. We are very thankful for all the prayers, cards, calls, visits, the care-givers with their huge hearts, and the time God gave us with Mama,” she noted in the touching post.

During that time, Reba reportedly reconnected with Linn. She reportedly shared in November 2020, "We kept in contact over the years, we both know the same people. So it was just like good friends getting back together and having dinner ... then we started texting and talking on the telephone and getting to know each other better during the quarantine.”

‘I am dating a very very sweet heart of God’

On her podcast, the country music singer also reportedly disclosed, “I am dating a very very sweet heart of God, Rex Linn and we have been talking during the pandemic, we had dinner with Rex in January, and then in February, in the middle of the pandemic, we were talking, texting, Facetime. And that's a really good way to get to know people.”

The ‘Consider Me Gone’ singer also claimed to feel like a “giddy teenager again” after being in relationship with the actor. She told her CMAs co-host Darius Rucker for ABC's ‘Country Strong 2020: Countdown to the CMA Awards’, “I'm in love, so that really inspires me to find love songs, to find happy songs. I've always been the queen of waltzes, the queen of sad songs, because I just gravitate to those kinds of songs.”

The actress may tie the knot with Linn in the near future as she told Alecia Davis of ‘Extra’, “We've talked about it and giggled about it. We thought Man, if we ever did have a ceremony, we would have to have a 2 o'clock, 4 o’clock, 6 o’clock, and an 8 o'clock because we have so many friends, acquaintances, and family.”