Reba McEntire and Narvel Blackstock’s 2015 split was not only the end of a 26-year marriage — it was also the disillusionment of a business empire.
The former couple got together in the mid 1980s while Blackstock was working as McEntire’s tour manager. (The “Fancy” singer became a stepmother to her husband’s three children — Chassidy, Shawna, and Brandon — once they tied the knot in 1989.) Blackstock soon took over management of McEntire’s career entirely through his company Starstruck Entertainment, as she built a legacy as one of country music’s biggest stars.
By the time Blackstock and McEntire announced their separation in 2015, their lives were completely intertwined, personally and professionally. According to multiple media outlets, Blackstock walked away with a $47.5 million divorce settlement, while McEntire took control of the management of her career.
“[My marriage] was a situation that was always business,” McEntire admitted on The Drew Barrymore Show in March 2024.
Keep scrolling for the complete timeline of McEntire and Blackstock’s marriage.
1989
McEntire and Blackstock got married in a private Lake Tahoe ceremony. (McEntire was previously married to steer wrestling champion and rancher Charlie Battles from 1976 to 1987.) Blackstock started out as a steel guitar player in McEntire’s band before becoming her tour manager. Once the couple tied the knot, Blackstock took over management of his wife’s career with the creation of Starstruck Entertainment.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight at the time, McEntire addressed concerns about Blackstock taking on such a crucial role in her professional life.
Reba McEntire and Narvel Blackstock in March 1992. Ron Davis/Getty Images
“I love him and I trust him very much … Narvel helps me an awful lot because he is the one who’s out there, who responds, who tells me what works, what doesn’t work, what looks good,” she said in 1989. “I’ve got to have that from somebody I trust and I do trust Narvel, explicitly. That’s why I married him.”
1990
Reba gave birth to her son, Shelby, in February 1990. She acknowledged in 2022 that she’d had “a lot of help” raising her son.
“I had the best nannies, and I took him on the road with me,” McEntire told People. “When I couldn’t, I would fly home after a concert, get him up in the morning, take him to school and pick him up. We’d play until I had to fly out again for a concert that night. I wanted to be with Shelby. Still do.”
While her quality time with Shelby was occasionally limited by her career commitments, Reba tried to convey the importance of remaining humble.
“When we would play games or cards, I’d never let Shelby win,” she recalled. “He wouldn’t have learned anything that way. I always told Shelby, ‘I’ll always love you, but I want other people to like you. So don’t be a little jerk. Don’t be a spoiled brat.’”
Shelby Blackstock and Reba McEntire in November 2016. John Shearer/WireImage
Shelby grew up to become a race car driver for top motorsports brands such as Ford, Andretti Autosport and Honda.
“I’m very proud of him. He’s always trying to improve and do better. His daddy did a great job too,” Reba told People in 2022. “Shelby is a gift from God to me. We’re very close. I was a very self-centered person to a degree before Shelby. But then there’s a little character who you are given the job to protect and nurture and love and teach, so all the attention’s not on you anymore.”
1991
Eight members of Reba’s band and two pilots were killed when a private plane crashed in San Diego following a private concert. She looked back on the tragedy during a 2012 appearance on the OWN series Master Class.
“Narvel came back to the hotel room where I was — it was 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning — and he said one of the planes had crashed,” Reba remembered. “I said, ‘Are they OK?’ He said, ‘I don’t think so.’ I said, ‘But you’re not sure?’ He said, ‘I don’t think so.’ So in my mind, any minute now, we’re going to get a call that they’re all right, but the call never came. So the rest of the night, Narvel was going room to room with the phone, and calling.”
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images Reba McEntire is thrilled about being the latest artist chosen for Kelly Clarkson’s Kellyoke cover series, especially given their personal history. McEntire, 69, took to social media on Wednesday, May 1, to share a clip of Clarkson, 42, performing one of her tracks, writing via X, “Thanks KC for […]
Reba credited the country music community for rallying around her and Narvel when they eventually learned that their bandmates were lost in the crash.
“There was a huge outpour of friends in the community, family that were there for us,” Reba recalled. “But nobody can replace the ones that we loved so much that we lost. And that’s one of the questions I’ll ask God when I get up there. ‘Why’d you take them so quick? They had so much more to give, and we had so much more to learn from them.’ But we learn from that situation, and the biggest thing I learned: don’t go a day without telling people you love them. And do act like this day could be your last one, so do what you want to do.”
2008
Reba offered rare insight on her personal and professional dynamic with Narvel while discussing how they planned to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary.
“He is the planner and the schemer. I am the one who goes and does it,” Reba told The Boot. “I am anxious to see what he has lined up. We have been married 20 years next June, but we have been working together 29 years.”
2013
Reba’s close friend and frequent collaborator Kelly Clarkson became her daughter-in-law when the “Because of You” singer married Narvel’s son Brandon Blackstock. Kelly and Brandon were married for 7 years before announcing their split in 2020. (Brandon and Kelly shared two children River Rose, born June 2014, and Remington “Remy” Alexander, born in April 2016.)
The “Queen of Country Music” reacted to the news of Kelly and Brandon’s split by saying that she “love[d] them both.”
“I am pulling for both of them. I hope they’re happy and healthy and pull through this,” Reba told Extra in October 2021.
Kelly later assured Andy Cohen on a June 2023 edition of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that her split from Brandon had no impact on her friendship with Reba.
Narvel Blackstock, Reba McEntire, Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock in March 2015. Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Celebrity Fight Night
“We were friends before [Brandon and I] even got together,” the American Idol alum pointed out.
Kelly added: “I think we’re both women of sound mind that know that life doesn’t work out sometimes. I mean, well, she would know best. It’s literally the same thing [with Narvel]. So, yeah, no hard feelings there, just feelings.”
Brandon died at age 48 in August 2025 following a three-year battle with cancer.
2015
Reba and Narvel released a joint statement through her record label, Big Machine Records, to announce that they’d separated after 26 years of marriage.
“Despite this being the end of their marriage, they continue to support each other,” a joint statement to Us Weekly read. “They have worked together for 35 years and will continue to do so. They have asked that you respect their privacy during this time.”
Narvel was expected to continue as Reba’s manager despite their divorce, but she ultimately took over management through her company Reba’s Business Incorporated.
2020
Reba started dating actor Rex Linn. The pair originally met on the set of 1991 movie The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw and reconnected after her divorce.
Speaking to Us in October 2024, Reba referred to Rex as the “love of [her] life” but insisted they weren’t rushing to get married.
Brandon Blackstock entered the spotlight in 2012 when he started dating Kelly Clarkson — but the talent manager was actually no stranger to fame. The Texas native was born in 1976 to Narvel Blackstock and Elisa Gayle Ritter. After Narvel split from Ritter in 1988, Reba McEntire became Brandon’s stepmom. The country singer was married […]
“It really makes no difference to me. I’m fine with the way we are,” she told Us. “If Rex ever wants to get married, then we’ll talk about it, but I’m fine. I love our relationship 100 percent.”
2024
The country music icon candidly admitted on The Drew Barrymore Show that her marriage to Narvel ended because business got in the way of their love for each other.
“[Ours was] a situation that was always business,” she confessed. “I think it works for some people. They can be married or have a relationship and work together. Our work was all the time.”
Reba further explained, “Our marriage was 26 years. We started out working together in the band. He was part of the band, and then became my manager, later on then my husband, but it was a situation that was always business — whether we were getting ready in the morning, pillow talk, whatever, but it was business.”
