Fake AI-Generated Reba McEntire Wedding Photos Spread Around Facebook Before Her Emmys Engagement Reveal

The reports of Reba McEntire’s marriage to actor Rex Linn have been greatly exaggerated.

After news broke at the Emmys on Sunday night of the couple’s (very much real) engagement, the artificial intelligence fake news rumor mill started working overtime, with old Facebook posts resurfacing, purportedly showing McEntire’s and Lynn’s nuptials in Italy.

The months-old posts showed fake AI-generated photos of McEntire wearing several different wedding gowns while holding several different bouquets in several different scenarios with Linn, who, for his part, is proposing on one knee in one photo, holding her hand in another, and embracing her in another as Andrea Bocelli inexplicably performs in the foreground of the photo.

That post’s caption read that McEntire and Linn tied the knot in a “dreamlike Italian wedding” featuring the iconic Italian tenor.

It did its best to fool Facebook users, painting quite the romantic picture for unsuspecting fans who just want to see McEntire happy. “In a fairytale setting in the heart of Tuscany, Reba McEntire and Rex Linn exchanged vows by candlelight, surrounded by roses and endless vineyards,” the post read. “But just when everyone thought the most romantic moment had arrived… Andrea Bocelli appeared. Without introduction, he began to sing ‘The Prayer,’ and the entire space fell silent.”

You can probably predict how the rest of the saccharine post continued.

Of course, these details and photos are all fake and AI-generated, but they did succeed in fooling some Facebook users, who sent well wishes in the comments.

Perhaps the posts drew inspiration from the couple’s Italian vacation they took together in 2023? “#toomuchfun in Italy!” McEntire once captioned a photo of her and the Young Sheldon actor on a boat in crystal blue waters.

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Nevertheless, marriage rumors persist for celebrities no matter the circumstances, particularly in this day and age of artificial intelligence and social media wildfires — especially when very much real engagement news is confirmed.

At the Emmys on Sunday, McEntire and Linn appeared on the red carpet together and confirmed to E! News correspondent Zuri Hall that they were engaged. They stayed mum on details of the engagement or any wedding plans, however, simply telling Hall, “We’re having a blast on Happy’s Place and so glad to be here tonight.”

The couple first met in the ’90s but started dating in 2020 after reconnecting on Young Sheldon. McEntire was previously married to Charlie Battles from 1976 to 1987 and to Narvel Blackstock from 1989 to 2015. Linn has never been married.

Asked last year if McEntire would consider marriage again, she said she’s “truly committed” to Linn and would walk down the aisle for a third time for him.

“If that’s something he feels totally strong about, that’s fine with me,” she told E! News at the time. “He’s never been married before. So, if he wants to experience that, I’m OK with that.”

Will fans get to see real, non-AI-generated photos of McEntire and Linn’s wedding day in the near future? Here’s to hoping!