Reba McEntire Appreciates How Fiancé Rex Linn ‘Lets Me Be My Silly, Goofy Self’: ‘We’re Both Dorks’

Reba McEntire and fiancé Rex Linn have a good time when they’re together.

In a new interview with Garden & Gun, the country superstar opened up about her dynamic with Linn, whom she started dating in 2020. The pair confirmed their engagement at the 2025 Emmys in September.

“It’s the absolute best,” she said of bringing her relationship with Linn full circle after meeting on the set of the 1991 television film The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw.

“We laugh. We’re both dorks,” continued McEntire, who now costars with her fiancé on the NBC sitcom Happy’s Place. “He lets me be my silly, goofy self.”

The “Fancy” singer added, “I’ve got his back, and he’s got mine.”

During a joint interview on The Drew Barrymore Show in December, Linn opened up about planning to propose to McEntire while on a trip to Africa — and why it didn’t end up happening.

“When we went to Africa, I took the ring with me,” said Linn, noting that he found the perfect spot for the occasion before ultimately having to scrap his plans.

“The moment that I found a little area I thought I was good [for the proposal], we had a 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,” he continued. “And he just looks at me and goes, ‘Well, brother, that’s an evening migratory walkway for male leopards. It wouldn’t be a good time.’ ”

McEntire and the audience laughed, while Linn added, “I knew then that I was done looking for another spot. I thought, ‘Yeah, you know what, I’ll just back off that one.'”

Linn ended up popping the question while taking a walk with McEntire on their Tennessee ranch on Christmas Eve last year.

In November, McEntire told USA Today about how Linn proposed, including the question she immediately asked him: “What are you going?”

“He said, ‘Would you marry me? I want to cross the finish line with you,'” she recalled, noting that she hugged Linn but didn’t immediately respond. “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 joked to the outlet, “I thought, if she doesn’t say ‘yes,’ I’ll just disappear into that creek. But then she said ‘yes’ three times.”