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When Reba McEntire was just a rodeo cowgirl growing up McAlester, Okla., she never imagined her happiest season would come in her 70s.
“I think I’m happier now than I’ve ever been in my life,” the singer and actress tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “It’s amazing. It’s wonderful being 70 and getting to do what I get to do at the level I want to do it.”
Since McEntire signed her first record deal in 1975, the star has gone on to sell 75 million albums and earn three Grammys. She also became a source of joy in people’s homes after the debut of the hit TV show Reba in 2001. Now, she’s starring on season 28 of The Voice and season 2 of her feel-good sitcom Happy’s Place, which premieres on Nov. 7.
John Russo
Part of what brought her back for her fourth season as a coach on The Voice was her curiosity in seeing “how many more great contestants” the show can find.
“They find the best people. I am blown away every season,” she says. “Then, of course, the other coaches.” She calls Michael Bublé “a good buddy” and says Niall Horan could be her “little brother” because “he’s cute, he’s funny, he’s witty.” And Snoop Dogg entertains them with sayings he makes up.
“What I love about the three that I’m with, we say our prayer before we go in. Snoop instigated that,” she shares.
McEntire works with another great group over on Happy’s Place, with costars Melissa Peterman, Belissa Escobedo and fiancé Rex Linn. This season she’ll also reunite with JoAnna Garcia Swisher, who played her daughter on Reba.
“It’s just like there’s not been a day between the last time I got to work with her,” says McEntire. “And having Melissa Peterman on the show and Rex Linn . . . we are a tight knit family, an acting team, and we have so much fun together. It’s natural. Anytime I get to step on that set, I feel like home. It’s my happy place.”
McEntire has also found joy in her personal life with Linn. The pair first met while filming The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw in 1991 — and they reconnected romantically in 2020.
The “I’m a Survivor” songstress revealed they were engaged in September — but she tells PEOPLE that Linn, 68, actually popped the question last December.
John Russo
“I’ve never been loved by a man like Rex Linn. Rex is a very tender-hearted man, and I just love him with all my heart. He’s a good guy. Real bashful though,” she says with a smile.
In addition to their life at home, spending their days together on set has been a “blast.” “Wherever we go, that is our Happy’s Place,” she says.
“Getting to work with Rex, drive to work with Rex and do the show, the rehearsals, drive home, talk about it, rehearse together — that’s what’s really special for me,” she says. “I’ve not had that before.”
For more on McEntire, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on stands Friday.
As McEntire looks ahead, she’s no longer stressing “the little stuff or the big stuff” — and she’s leaning into the “hardest lesson I’ve ever tried to learn,” which is “quit living for tomorrow and for yesterday. That’s really hard to do, but it’s so rewarding when it clicks.”
John Russo
“I used to think being content was a no-no, because if you’re content, you’re not going to strive to continue to do better. That’s not true because you always try to improve your health,” she says. “As I tell artists on The Voice, and anybody that ever asks me for advice, I’ll say, ‘Enjoy every minute.'”
Professionally, she’s doing just that and doesn’t see herself slowing down — at least not right now.
“I don’t know when. It could be in 20 years,” McEntire says of the possibility of retiring. “I think I’ll know when it’s the time. Dolly [Parton] and I talked about that an awful lot when she did the Reba show, and I said, ‘Are you going to retire?’ She said, ‘Why would I? What in the world could I do and have as much fun as what I’m doing in this job right now?’ I agree with her a hundred percent. Slow down, maybe, but no plans of retiring.”
She concludes, “I love this chapter in my life. I’m very grateful.”
Happy’s Place season 2 premieres Friday, Nov. 7, on NBC and will stream the next day on Peacock. The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
