Reba McEntire and Rex Linn started dating in 2020, and the couple became engaged in December 2024 when Linn proposed near their home in Tennessee. However, that initially wasn’t his first choice, as the actor had planned to pop the question to McEntire while the pair was on an African safari in June 2024.
During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Rex Linn opened up about the reason he decided not to go through with his plan while on safari. “When we went to Africa, I took the ring with me,” he said, adding that the right moment “never presented itself.”
“The moment that I found a little area I thought I was good, we had an African guide named Mumps, and I came around the corner one evening and I said, ‘Hey Mumps, I’m thinking about proposing to Reba,’” Linn recalled. “And he kinda looks at me, and I said, ‘But I haven’t found a place. But, you know, we were driving back down this road, and over on the left side there was a little body of water down there, there was a pretty meadow, and I was thinking about doing that.’”
“And he just looked at me and goes, ‘Well, brother, that’s an evening migratory walkway for male leopards. It wouldn’t be a good time,” Linn continued as the audience laughed. “I knew then that I was done looking for another spot. I thought, ‘Yeah, you know what, I’ll just back off that one.’”
Both McEntire and Linn told Barrymore that their dream honeymoon would be another trip to Africa. “It’s always our number one destination,” McEntire said. “Just love it.”
The country legend detailed the actual proposal to USA Today in November of 2025, explaining that Linn brought her ring back home from Africa and instead took her on a Christmas Eve walk near a creek the two love on their Tennessee ranch. “I said, ‘What are you doing?’ and he said, ‘Would you marry me? I want to cross the finish line with you,’” McEntire recalled of the proposal, sharing that she hugged Linn but didn’t answer right away. “He said, ‘You’re not saying anything!’ And I finally said, ‘Well, yes! YES!’ He thought he was going to have to jump into the creek.”
Linn said the pause was “about 21 seconds. And even a five-second pause feels like an hour.” “I thought, if she doesn’t say ‘yes,’ I’ll just disappear into that creek,” he joked. “But then she said ‘yes’ three times.”
McEntire said that she’s “having a blast” during this season of her life. “I feel like a teenager again,” she said. “It’s just a wonderful time.” She added, “I’m 70 years old, 50 years in the business, and I’m happier now than I’ve ever been in my life. God saved the best for last.”
Speaking to E! News in November, The Voice coach shared that while she and Linn aren’t in a rush to plan their wedding, it will be “a lot of fun.” “It’s gonna be a nontraditional wedding because that’s Rex and me,” she said. “We like comfort, we love friends, we love food.”
