Reba McEntire realized pretty early on that she'd found her happy place in now-fiancé Rex Linn .

It wasn't quite love at first sight, as the country music legend has actually known the actor, 68, since 1991, when they filmed the TV movie The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw .

But when Reba guest starred on his show Young Sheldon in 2020 following the end of her 26-year second marriage to steel guitar player-turned-manager Narvel Blackstock , "It was just like a magnet," she reflected to E! News' Francesca Amiker last year.

Due to COVID-era restrictions, "We didn't get to see each other from January ‘til June 16," the 70-year-old continued, "but we created an intimacy by texting and talking over the telephone that we wouldn't have gotten if we'd have been tog

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