Reba McEntire and Rex Linn Are Engaged After 5 Years of Dating

The pair met in the 1990s and began dating in 2020

NEED TO KNOW

News of Reba McEntire and Rex Linn’s engagement came during an interview on the red carpet at the 2025 Emmys
The couple started dating in 2020 during quarantine but met several decades prior
They also star in the NBC sitcom Happy’s Place together

Reba McEntire and Rex Linn are getting married!

PEOPLE confirmed that the couple are engaged after an E! News reporter referred to them as fiancés on the 2025 Emmy Awards red carpet on Sunday, Sept. 14. McEntire, 70, and Linn, 68, first met in the 1990s but didn’t begin dating until 2020, when they reconnected after the death of her mother and bonded during quarantine.

“It happened a few months ago and they are very happy,” a source tells PEOPLE of their engagement.

“In 2020, when Mama got sick, he called me,” McEntire recalled on Today in October 2021. “We’d gotten to see each other before because we’re both on Young Sheldon. So starting in March of 2020, we just kept talking and visiting and finally got together, see each other in June.”

“And we’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since,” she continued.

Rex Linn and Reba McEntire.Amy Sussman/Getty

Earlier this year, the actress opened up about their special relationship, telling Fox News that they “get along in every aspect.”

“He’s a better cook than I am, so I like that, for sure. We love Longhorns, we love the cowboy way of life, cowgirl way of life, and we both got into the entertainment industry,” she noted, praising their “perfect union.”

“He’s an actor. I’m a singer. I love to act. Now we act together,” she added.

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The pair currently star alongside each other on the sitcom Happy’s Place, which Linn previously said is “a dream come true.”

“We are best friends. We wanna cross the finish line with each other in a relationship,” he told WBIR Channel 10.

Rex Linn and Reba McEntire on May 8, 2025.John Shearer/Getty

During an interview with PEOPLE, Linn further shared what it’s like to be on set with McEntire.

“Every once in a while, I’ll sneak by for a quick kiss, just a peck on the cheek and keep on moving. It’s fun,” he revealed at the time.

In February 2024, McEntire gushed over her romantic connection with Linn, saying that “every day is Valentine’s Day for us.”

“We’re just silly, goofy people in our 60s that love life [and] love each other,” she told PEOPLE at the time. “We have fun. We’re dorky, goofy, and we have similar interests in just about everything, so it’s just fun all the time.”

See PEOPLE’s full coverage of the 77th annual Primetime Emmy Awards as they’re broadcasting live on CBS and Paramount+ from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.