The Sad Truth About Reba McEntire’s Marriage To Narvel Blackstock

Reba McEntire and ex-husband Narvel Blackstock posing© Christopher Polk/Getty Images

With a decades-long and successful career in country music, Reba McEntire has had an interesting history with relationships, which she opened up about on “The Drew Barrymore Show.” Her marriage to Narvel Blackstock specifically is worth noting because she describes the relationship as more transactional than anything. Their marriage lasted from 1989 to 2015, making for a very long business arrangement.

“Our marriage was 26 years. We started out working together in the band. He was part of the band, and then became my manager, later on then my husband, but it was a situation that was always business — whether we were getting ready in the morning, pillow talk, whatever, but it was business,” she explained to Barrymore. Even vacations weren’t really time off. “Even when we were on vacation to recharge the batteries, about three days into a vacation it was like, ‘You know what we can do?’” Beginning the relationship through a business lens was a precursor to and constant presence throughout the entire marriage.

Reba McEntire and Rex Linn posing© Omar Vega/Getty Images

After the divorce, Narvel Blackstock walked away a wealthy man. However, the divorce was amicable. They share a son named Shelby, and Reba was a long-time stepmom to Blackstock’s children from a previous marriage (including Brandon Blackstock, who was previously married to another big star, Kelly Clarkson). Despite Reba’s split from Narvel, she still maintains a relationship with all of her stepchildren.

“Despite this being the end of their marriage, they continue to support each other. They have worked together for 35 years and will continue to do so,” the divorced couple put forth in a statement to the public. Currently, though, Reba is in a new relationship with actor Rex Linn. According to an interview with People, she and Rex have known each other for more than 30 years, but they reconnected in 2020 following her mother’s death. In contrast to her marriage with Narvel, her relationship with Linn is more romantic. “Every day is Valentine’s Day for us. We’re just silly, goofy people in our 60s that love life [and] love each other,” she said of their relationship.