Reba McEntire and Rex Linn got engaged in December 2024 after dating for about four years, and the couple is enjoying their time as fiancés before taking the next step to become husband and wife.
In a new interview with E! News, McEntire opened up about their upcoming nuptials, sharing that the wedding will be “a lot of fun.” She continued, “It’s gonna be a nontraditional wedding because that’s Rex and me,” she explained. “We like comfort, we love friends, we love food.”
While they don’t have many details in place yet — Linn revealed that they haven’t yet set a date — the couple aren’t in a rush to get down the aisle, especially while they’re both busy with their NBC sitcom, Happy’s Place, which has its Season 2 premiere on November 7. “What we’re doing right now honestly is enjoying our engagement time,” Linn said. “We haven’t set a date, we’re just going to enjoy our engagement and enjoy going to Happy’s Place every day.”
The actor also noted that he and his bride-to-be love the fact that not only do they get to spend quality time together at home, they’re also together at work while filming Happy’s Place.
“We love being around one another,” he said. “We like going to work, we like coming home from work. We can’t wait to go back the next day. Our relationship in real life has enhanced our scenes where we’re together because we’re a lot more comfortable. It makes it a lot better for us.”
Reba McEntire confirmed her engagement to Linn, who she began dating in 2020, on the red carpet at the Emmy Awards in September, but she revealed to USA Today that they’ve actually been engaged since December 2024. Linn proposed on Christmas Eve, after initially planning to do so on an African safari in June 2024.
“But the opportunity never presented itself,” McEntire said. “He brought [the ring] back home.” Instead, Linn took McEntire 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 was counting that pause, noting that it 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.”
Linn picked out McEntire’s rose gold ring at an Austin jeweler, and with their engagement now public news, the country icon is happy to gush about her new bling. “It sparkles all the time, and it doesn’t matter that I don’t think I’ve ever cleaned it,” she said. “I’m having a blast. I feel like a teenager again. It’s just a wonderful time.”
Reba McEntire added that she’s currently living in one of the best times of her life. “I’m 70 years old, 50 years in the business, and I’m happier now than I’ve ever been in my life,” she shared. “God saved the best for last.”
