Who Is Reba’s McEntire’s Fiancé? All About Rex Linn, Her ‘Happy’s Place’ Co-Star and Future Husband

The “Fancy” singer and actor got engaged after five years of dating.

Rex Linn and Reba McEntire at the 2025 ACM Awards. Credit:Taylor Hill/WireImage

Reba McEntire is engaged to actor and Happy’s Place co-star Rex Linn.
The couple have been dating for five years after reconnecting on the set of Young Sheldon.
McEntire and Linn first met on the set of 1991’s The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw.

In case you missed it, Reba McEntire casually confirmed her engagement at the 2025 Emmy Awards.

The country legend, 70, revealed she’s engaged to Happy’s Place co-star Rex Linn, 68, in an interview with E! News on the red carpet. McEntire and Linn have been dating for five years, but they first crossed paths over 30 years ago while filming 1991’s The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw.

“We’ve kept in contact with each other over the years, and we both know the same people, so it was just like good friends getting back together having dinner in January,” she told Andy Cohen in a November 2020 episode of Watch What Happens Live.

Rex Linn and Reba McEntire at the Emmy Awards on September 14, 2025.Amy Sussman/Getty Images

In May 2025, the multi-hyphenate told Fox News Digital that the couple “get along in every aspect,” which helps make their relationship work. “He’s a better cook than I am, so I like that, for sure. We love Longhorns, we love the cowboy way of life, cowgirl way of life, and we both got into the entertainment industry…it’s just the perfect union, absolutely.”

Prior to her engagement to Linn, McEntire was married to rancher Charlie Battles from 1976 to 1987 and music manager Narvel Blackstock from 1989 to 2015. She and Blackstock welcomed one child, son Shelby, in 1990.

McEntire hinted at one day walking down the aisle with her Young Sheldon co-star in an October 2023 appearance on Watch What Happens Live. “My ‘sugar tot,’” she said, using her nickname for Linn. “That would be up to him. I’ve been married twice. He’s never been married, so if he wants to, that’s totally up to him.”

With wedding bells confirmed to be in the future for the “Fancy” singer, here’s everything to know about Reba’s fiancé, Rex Linn.

He’s an actor.

Rex Linn on a press tour in July 2024.JSquared Photography/NBCUniversal

Like his bride-to-be, Linn is a seasoned film and television actor—but he didn’t always feel called to the screen. The former banker was in his early 30s when he headed for Tinseltown, sensing that it was now or never amidst a series of life changes.

“In 1989, I had sold my house and broken up with my girlfriend, and my dad said, ‘If you’re going to pursue your dream of acting, now would be the time to do it,’” he shared in an interview with his alma mater, Oklahoma State University.  “I had been a banker. I was in the oil business. Then, I had a hunting guide service. For that decade, I had been talking about acting….So, I packed all my stuff in a U-Haul and headed west on I-40.”

It proved a fateful choice. Linn has since landed roles on shows like CSI: Miami, the lauded Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul, and Young Sheldon (where he reconnected with McEntire when she guest-starred). He’s also appeared in various films, including 1993’s Cliffhanger and 2018’s An Acceptable Loss. Of course, Reba fans are most likely to know him from his role as Emmett in NBC sitcom Happy’s Place, starring alongside McEntire.

He and McEntire have been friends for over 30 years.

Rex Linn and Reba McEntire in October 2024.Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

It’s a match three decades in the making. McEntire and Linn first crossed paths in 1991 on the set ofThe Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw. The television film is the fourth in a series starring late music icon Kenny Rogers.

“I was one of the actors, [Linn] was one of the actors,” McEntire recalled in an April 2023 appearance on TODAY with Hoda and Jenna of how they met. She went on to explain that while Linn’s part wasn’t major, it was memorable. “He gets a big kick out of it…his part was riding into a saloon on a 4-year-old colt and going, ‘Yeehaw!’ and riding out.”

While they wouldn’t start dating until 2020, the two “stayed in communication all of those years” after their initial meeting—and the rest is history.

He consoled McEntire when her mother had cancer.

Rex Linn and Reba McEntire at the ACM Awards in May 2024.Gareth Patterson/Penske Media via Getty Images

McEntire had recently reconnected with Linn when she guest-starred on Young Sheldon, in which he had a recurring role as Principal Tom Peterson. “And then in 2020 when Mama got sick, he called me,” she explained on TODAY with Hoda and Jenna, adding later in the interview that “starting in March of 2020, we just kept talking and visiting and finally got together, [to] see each other in June. And we’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since.”

McEntire’s mother, Jacqueline, died of cancer in March 2020, the singer shared to her social media accounts. “She had a wonderful, full, healthy life and was absolutely ready to go,” McEntire wrote in the caption of her tribute post. “The cancer might think it won the battle but we’re giving God all the credit on selecting the time for her to go home to Him. She was ready to see our Daddy, her mama and daddy and all her family and friends.”

They have adorable nicknames for one another.

Reba McEntire and Rex Linn at Sonic in February 2024.Sara Jaye/Getty Images for SONIC

Forget Bennifer and Traylor—McEntire and Linn have the new cutest couple nickname in Hollywood. Since 2020, they’ve been calling each other “The Tots, Sugar and Tater” based on McEntire’s favorite food, she revealed on her Living & Learning podcast in October 2021.

The inside joke began back in January 2020, when the couple had one of their first dates. “On the menu was Tater Tots and I just went nuts because I love Tater Tots. And so, Rex is famous for giving people nicknames and he said, ‘That’s yours,’” she recalled. Linn, also appearing on the podcast episode, described it as the perfect moment. “You ordered Tater Tots, you delved into them like a great white shark with ketchup. And I just thought, that’s it. It’s ‘Tater Tot.’” His nickname, ‘Sugar Tot,’ came from McEntire’s sister Susie.

Linn shared a snapshot of the two to his Instagram in January 2020 on what may have been the nickname-giving date, writing in the caption, “Had a fantastic dinner with this Oklahoma girl. Tater Tots and Ketchup included.” Now, the couple enjoy the meal every Valentine’s Day at the fast-food chain Sonic, McEntire told TODAY in 2023.

The couple are “so adorably cute” on the Happy’s Place set.

Rex Linn, Melissa Peterman, and Reba McEntire on the ‘Happy’s Place’ set on August 4, 2025.Griffin Nagel/NBCUniversal

Since 2024, the actors have co-starred on NBC sitcom Happy’s Place, and their castmates are as in love with their romance as they are with one another.

“It’s adorable,” Melissa Peterman told People in a 2024 interview. “And oftentimes … we’re taking a five-minute break or we’re having breakfast or lunch and you look over and we have a bar set — it takes place at Happy’s Place and you look over and [McEntire and Linn,] they’re in a booth at the bar. And it looks like they’re legitimately on a date at a restaurant just sitting together being so adorably cute.” She added, “I will also add they’re really professional about it too. I mean, it’s, it’s very cute,” she continued.

A smitten Linn chimed in, “Well, we’re running lines constantly but every once in a while I’ll sneak by for a quick kiss, just a peck on the cheek, and keep on moving. It’s fun.”