Reba McEntire Reveals She and Boyfriend Rex Linn First Bonded Over a Tasty Appetizer

Reba McEntire recently opened up about her actor boyfriend Rex Linn, who she's been dating for about three years. McEntire appeared on The Jennifer Hudson Show and explained that she and Linn worked together on Young Sheldon, which led to their romance, even though they'd known one another for decades. She also revealed one very unexpected way they bonded early on in their relationship — via tater tots!

"I was doing Young Sheldon, the TV show, Rex was doing Young Sheldon – so was Melissa Peterman, who played Barbara Jean on the Reba show," McEntire explained. "Rex texted me and said, 'You gonna be in town?' I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'Well, let's go to dinner.'" It was a couple of weeks before the group got together, but they eventually met up. "We all went to dinner, had a good time," McEntire continued, "went down the street to a wine bar, and they said, 'Well, I understand you've already had dinner, but we do have some good appetizers.'"

It was at this point that McEntire and Linn began to really connect. "I said, 'What do you have?' They said, 'Well, we have tater tots.' I went, [raises hand], and so Rex said, 'That's your nickname from here on out – Tater Tot,'" the country music icon shared, then adding that "Sugar Tot" is her nickname for Linn. "We're the tots – sugar and tater. So, we've been together ever since," McEntire quipped. "He's a sweetheart."

Notably, Young Sheldon is not the only time McEntire and Linn have starred onscreen together. Linn is a longtime actor who's appeared in movies such as Rush Hour and Cheaper by the Dozen, and also appeared alongside McEntire in the Lifetime movie The Hammer as well as on ABC's Big Sky. He previously gushed over what it's like to work alongside her on-screen. "She doesn't stop moving," he told TV Line in a recent interview.

"I'm telling you, man, she's like a great white shark. Can't stop or they'll die in the water. [Laughs] At least that's what the scientists tell us," he added. Linn, continued, "Every scene was fun for me because I was working with her, and I mean that. We'll wink at each other in the middle of a scene." The longtime actor also praised how "brilliant" McEntire is with her lines, saying she "can look at a page of dialogue for five minutes and she's ready to go."

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