LOS ANGELES: Off-screen romance has caught up with on-screen chemistry. Reba McEntire, 70, and her Happy’s Place co-star Rex Linn, 68, are engaged a real-life love story that’s quietly been unfolding alongside the NBC comedy.
McEntire confirmed the engagement while on the Happy’s Place set in Universal City, where she still wears a rose-gold ring set with black diamonds.
Linn proposed on Christmas Eve 2024, kneeling by a creek on their 130-acre ranch outside Nashville. McEntire says the moment left her giddy.
It sparkles all the time… I feel like a teenager again, she told USA TODAY. I’m having a blast. It’s just a wonderful time.
The pair first crossed paths on the 1991 TV movie The Gambler Returns and reconnected decades later after McEntire guest-starred on Young Sheldon.
Since their reunion they’ve been inseparable, commuting together from Los Angeles and rehearsing the sitcom late into the night.
They even maintain a daily ritual they jokingly call “Coffee Camp, whether together in person or over Zoom.
On Happy’s Place, McEntire’s character Bobbie and Linn’s Emmett are a simmering prospect rather than a full-blown romance, but viewers already expect sparks.
McEntire says the show will tease a love interest and deliver heated moments, even as real life outpaces the plot.
Linn remembers the proposal as nervy but heartfelt. He’d picked out the ring in Austin and carried it through a June 2024 African safari.
On Dec. 23 he scouted the creek; on Dec. 24, he asked McEntire to marry him. Would you marry me? I want to cross the finish line with you, Linn recalled saying.
McEntire laughed that she paused for about 21 seconds before answering then said yes three times.
They announced the engagement publicly at the Emmy Awards in September but delayed broader celebration after the destructive Los Angeles fires in January.
Wedding plans remain tentative McEntire’s 2026 calendar, Linn joked, leaves her only 13 free days so the couple is savoring the engagement for now.
McEntire is enjoying a busy professional moment. She’s a coach on Season 28 of The Voice and continues starring in Happy’s Place, while Linn balances on-set work and life on their ranch.
McEntire, who divorced Narvel Blackstock in 2015, describes this chapter as one of the happiest of her life. God saved the best for last, she said. I’m 70 years old, 50 years in the business, and I’m happier now than I’ve ever been.
Their public affection has also inspired fans. McEntire says she’s heard from people who feel hopeful again about love later in life.
McEntire also addressed the rise of AI-generated fakes, including viral images that falsely showed her pregnant. She called the images nonsense and urged people to verify sources.
You have to really source your information, she said, noting how confusing social media can be even for industry veterans.
For now, McEntire and Linn appear content to let life and art mirror each other real romance on the same lot where their fictional tavern story continues to simmer.
