Reba McEntire Addresses Potential Retirement After Decades in the Industry

In November 1975, a 20-year-old redhead from Oklahoma signed her first contract with PolyGram/Mercury Records. A half century later, Reba McEntire is among the most decorated female country artists, charting more than 100 singles and selling 75 million records across the globe. The “Fancy” singer is still going strong at 70, currently starring on NBC’s The Voice and Happy’s Place. Given the recent announcement of her engagement to longtime boyfriend (and Happy’s Place co-star) Rex Linn, some fans are wondering if Reba has plans to step back from her work in the near future. The three-time Grammy Award winner resoundingly addressed that question during a recent interview with People magazine.

Reba McEntire Is “Happier Now Than I’ve Ever Been in My Life”

In the earlier days of her career, “content” felt like a dirty word to Reba McEntire. “[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 told People. “As I tell artists on The Voice, and anybody that ever asks me for advice, I’ll say, ‘Enjoy every minute.’”

Currently, the Country Music Association’s four-time Female Vocalist of the Year is doing just that—and she plans to keep it up.

“It could be in 20 years,” McEntire said of a potential retirement timeline. “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.”

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Although Reba announced her engagement to Rex Linn in September, the “I’m a Survivor” singer revealed that he actually popped the question on Christmas Eve 2024. The pair have been together they reunited in late 2020, nearly 30 years after first meeting on the set of Kenny Rogers’ 1991 film The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw.

“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.”

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