Reba McEntire might not have been nervous about singing the national anthem at the recent Super Bowl, but her boyfriend Rex Linn had plenty of nerves for both of them. In a new video shared on social media, Linn reveals that, although McEntire was calm ahead of her big performance, he was scared to death.
“I was about to throw up,” Linn admitted. “We were in the locker room, basically, and she’s over there — they were just talking about food or something. I was just thinking, ‘We’re getting ready to go out to the Super Bowl.’ And Reba kind of kept looking at me, and I wasn’t saying a word to anybody. I was like, ‘We’re going to walk in … we’re in the underbelly of the Super Bowl, and we’re going to walk out onto the field.’ I was nervous, and they were just talking about other stuff.
“And finally, Reba just walked over and said, ‘Are you gonna make it?'” he recounted. “I said, ‘I’m working through it. But you do realize we’re getting ready to sing’ — I said ‘we’ too, that’s how nervous I was — ‘You’re getting ready to sing at the Super Bowl.’ She said, ‘Yeah, I got it.’ I said, ‘But I mean, we’re talking 131 million are about to watch you.’ She said, ‘I got it, Rex. Just calm down.’ I was wrecked.”
45-Rex talking about how he felt at the Super Bowl! 🤣 “I was a wreck man!!”
And I love the “You do realize we’re getting ready to sing…” 🥹 @reba #reba Oh how I love this amazing lady!! pic.twitter.com/mnHv0JGk7a— RealRebaLove 👩🏻🦰 👑 💃🏼 Katie Gardner (@realrebalove) April 22, 2024
It might make sense that Linn was more nervous than his girlfriend of four years, since it was Linn who convinced her to sing at the Super Bowl in the first place.
“[My manager] said that they wanted me to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl, and I said ‘Oh my gosh. Well, let me think about that,’” McEntire recalled to CBS News. “And Rex Linn, my boyfriend, who is a huge football fan, he said, ‘Yes, she’ll do it. Absolutely.’ So that’s where we’re at.”
The couple, who first met while both starring in Kenny Rogers‘ movie, The Gambler, started dating in early 2020, after reuniting when they were both cast in Young Sheldon. McEntire has been married twice before, while Linn has never married. Although she says she would happily say “I do” to Linn, ultimately that decision is up to him.
“I told him if he wanted to get married that’s up to him totally,” McEntire told Taste of Country. “He doesn’t seem pressured one way or the other. We get along so well. We have fun. We travel together. Now, if you can do a road trip with a person and not get in an argument and still like each other when you get to your destination, that’s a pretty good partnership right there.”
Whether or not McEntire ever becomes Mrs. Linn, she is very, very grateful for her relationship with Linn, and how supportive he is of her and her superstar career.
“[It’s the] greatest thing ever,” McEntire said on The Drew Barrymore Show. “It was just like, ‘Why now?’ So I asked Rex. I’ve been married twice. He’s been engaged four times, but never married. And so, I said, ‘Rex, how come you and I have known each other all this time, but we never got together?’ And he said, ‘Probably because you would have killed me.’ He’s a wild man. He’s a 12-year-old.”
McEntire will team up with Linn, along with her former Reba co-star Melissa Peterman, for a new comedy on NBC. Keep track of updates at Reba.com.
Read ‘Reba McEntire: 11 Things to Know About the Country Music Legend’ here.
