Reba McEntire says finding love wasn’t her priority when she and her now-boyfriend, Rex Linn, reconnected in 2020.
That January, they crossed paths while Reba was filming an episode for Young Sheldon. The two first met three decades prior, in 1991, when they were both actors in the cast of the Kenny Rogers-led The Gambler Returns. When Rex asked her to dinner after her Young Sheldon shoot, Reba wasn’t expecting much to come from it — at first.
“He made me laugh my butt off on our first date, which we didn’t even know was a date,” Reba explains to People.
What followed was a long, slow courtship that largely took place virtually, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. That slow-and-steady relationship-building style helped lay a solid foundation for their love story, the country star points out.
“He’s the love of my life,” she adds. “We’re pretty much inseparable.”
So much so that they’re now co-starring in ABC drama series Big Sky as husband and wife characters Sunny and Buck, the proprietors of Sunny Day Excursions in small-town Montana.
“To play husband and wife, it’s natural for us,” Reba continues. “Rex and I rehearse all the time to make sure that when we step on that set, we’re not wasting anybody’s time. We’re professionals.”
Big Sky airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
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