Reba McEntire got candid about putting herself back together after her divorce from her husband, Narvel Blackstock, in 2015, who also happened to be her manager. The 70-year-old was married to the businessman for 26 years, and they welcomed one son, Shelby, in 1990. Narvel is also the father of three other children with his first wife, including his late son Brandon Blackstock. Brandon was married to Kelly Clarkson until 2022 and passed away in August following a lengthy cancer battle.
“My manager was my husband from 1989 to 2015. Everybody took care of everything. All I had to do was get up and sing,” Reba told Esquire. “When that dissolved, all that team went with him, and I was scared to death. I was deserted, abandoned, and left. I threw a fit.” Thankfully, the mother of one had shoulders to lean on, and people who helped guide her through the divorce.
“Then there they were, my angels, right there beside me,” she continued. “[They said] ‘Hey, you’re learning. You didn’t know how much a gallon of milk was, now you do. Now get out there. You can do it. You’re tough. We taught you better.'” Narvel walked away from their marriage with an eye-popping $47.5 million in a shock for Reba, who was against the divorce in the first place.
“The divorce was not my idea. I didn’t want it in any shape, form or fashion. So it was really hard to make the adjustment,” she told CMT Radio Live a year after their split. The pair maintained that it was an amicable divorce, detailing in a statement that “they continue to support each other [as] they have worked together for 35 years and will continue to do so.”
Reba shared further insight into her divorce from Narvel on The Drew Barrymore Show in 2024, revealing that they would always end up discussing business instead of working on their marriage. “I think it works for some people. They can be married or have a relationship and work together. Our work was all the time,” she explained.
“Our marriage was 26 years. We started out working together in the band. He was part of the band, and then became my manager later on, then my husband, but it was a situation that was always business.” She continued: “Whether we were getting ready in the morning, pillow talk, whatever…it was business. Even when we were on vacation to recharge the batteries, about three days into a vacation, it was like, ‘You know what we can do?'”
© Getty ImagesThe “I’m A Survivor” singer turned her life around after the divorce, and found love again with her Happy’s Place co-star Rex Linn. The duo recently got engaged and couldn’t be more in love if they tried. Reba and Rex had been friends since the ’90s, but things didn’t turn romantic until 2020 when her mother fell ill and he stepped up to support her.
© Getty Images“We are best friends. We wanna cross the finish line with each other in a relationship,” Rex sweetly told WBIR Channel 10.
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