Congratulation! Reba’s Star Is Getting Married and She Had Reba McEntire & Melissa Peterman as Wedding Bridesmaids.
JoAnna García Swisher Had Reba McEntire & Melissa Peterman as Wedding Bridesmaids
The Happy’s Place stars stepped in big time for McEntire’s former TV daughter.
Some bonds between TV families will never be broken — just ask JoAnna García Swisher.
The actress shared the small screen alongside The Voice Coach Reba McEntire in the mid-2000s sitcom Reba, playing McEntire’s daughter — and during that time, they formed a beautiful real-life friendship that’s still strong today.
In an April 2025 interview with People, Swisher revealed that McEntire and fellow Reba co-star Melissa Peterman were bridesmaids in her 2010 wedding to New York Yankees star Nick Swisher.
Swisher explained that McEntire “stepped in” in a significant way in her own life after losing her own mom and dad.
JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Reba McEntire, and Melissa Peterman are still close after Reba sitcom
JoAnna Garcia Swisher attends “After School Tac’over” with Big Brother Big Sisters of America on October 10, 2023 in New York City; Reba McEntire attends NBCUniversal Upfront Events on
May 12, 2025 in New York City; Melissa Peterman attends the “NBCUniversal FYC Emmy Luncheon” at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on April 11, 2025.
Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images; Art Streiber/NBCUniversal; Todd Williamson/NBCUniversal
McEntire being by the side of her TV daughter in her real-life wedding is on-brand for the queen of country. As Swisher told People, McEntire is “such an incredible human.”
“She’s just a girl that has big dreams … And so you see there’s like a very real humility, appreciation,” Swisher continued. “She is such a huge star, and she just still amazes me with her, you know, like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening to me’ vibe.”
McEntire has even impacted Swisher’s two daughters.
“The girls love her so much. She’s so good to my girls,” Swisher revealed. “I just told her, I was like, ‘You know, looking back on all those pictures in that time in my life, I was so lucky to be a working actress on a television show that was beloved, but also, you know, that I had, like, real people that cared about me and made sure I was safe.'”
As it turns out, there’s one more Reba star who is still close to Joanna García Swisher: Christopher Rich, who played her TV father. Rich officiated her 2010 wedding, which effectively doubled as a real-life Reba reunion.
Will JoAnna García Swisher appear on Happy’s Place?
Chris Rich, Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman at The 2003 Winter TCA Tour Party on January 11, 2003 in Los Angeles, California.
Photo: Kevin Winter/ImageDirect/Getty Images
Good news: Season 2 of NBC’s Happy’s Place — which stars McEntire and Peterman — looks like it could have a storyline involving McEntire’s former TV daughter.
During a May interview with Us Weekly, McEntire revealed that Swisher will “definitely” be part of a future episode.
“JoAnna is so busy. She’s producing, she’s got three movies and she’s [working on] Sweet Magnolias,” she said. “So she is a very busy lady, but she said she’d definitely be there.”
If her appearance comes to fruition, Joanna García Swisher would join Christopher Rich as another Reba alum who has guest-starred on McEntire’s current sitcom.
