Reba McEntire and Rex Linn are officially heading down the aisle after five years of dating. The couple announced their engagement while attending the 2025 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, making it one of the night’s most heartwarming surprises.
The 69-year-old country music legend and the CSI: Miami actor, 68, confirmed the happy news during a red carpet interview with Live From E! correspondent Zuri Hall. After Hall referred to Linn as McEntire’s fiancé and Happy’s Place costar, McEntire smiled and said, “We’re having a blast on Happy’s Place and so glad to be here tonight.”
The pair, who first met in the 1990s but didn’t begin dating until 2020, looked overjoyed as they walked hand in hand into the Peacock Theatre on September 14. Their love story has been a slow burn, but one that McEntire describes as magnetic. “It was just like a magnet,” she recalled in an earlier interview. “We created an intimacy by texting and talking over the telephone that we wouldn’t have gotten if we’d have been together all of that time.”
McEntire and Linn reconnected on the set of Young Sheldon in 2020. Not long after, their friendship blossomed into a romance, and they’ve been inseparable ever since. “We’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since June 16 of 2020,” the Grammy winner previously shared.
The engagement announcement comes as the couple celebrates another career milestone—co-starring in NBC’s new sitcom Happy’s Place. On the Emmy red carpet, they praised one another’s humor and work ethic, with McEntire noting how much fun they’ve had on set.
The two also bonded over their shared appreciation for classic television. The couple attended the Emmys to honor the 40th anniversary of The Golden Girls, with McEntire performing a special musical tribute. Linn playfully added, “If you’re not a fan of The Golden Girls, it would be like not liking puppies,” while McEntire quipped she identifies most with Dorothy, Bea Arthur’s blunt and witty character.
This will be McEntire’s third marriage. She was previously married to Charlie Battles from 1976 to 1987 and to Narvel Blackstock from 1989 to 2015. Though she once admitted she wasn’t sure if marriage was in her future, McEntire has long said she would consider walking down the aisle again if it was important to Linn, who has never been married.
“If that’s something he feels totally strong about, that’s fine with me,” she said in a 2024 interview. “He’s never been married before. So, if he wants to experience that, I’m OK with that.”
Now, with an engagement ring and a shared future ahead, McEntire and Linn are ready to begin their next chapter together. Their journey—from longtime acquaintances to pandemic sweethearts to engaged partners—has proven that sometimes love stories only get better with time.
