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Reba McEntire met her future husband Narvel Blackstock when he joined her band in 1980 throughout her marriage to rancher and steer-wrestling champion Charlie Battles. As she recalled in her e-book, “Reba: My Story,” she and her bandmates have been in search of a guitar participant to fill a spot of their lineup when Narvel swooped in and walked into her life. Over the subsequent a number of years, she would lean on him not simply as a pal however as her supervisor; it was, in truth, Narvel who served as her rock throughout her divorce from Battles — although their relationship did not turn out to be romantic till a lot later.

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“It took a full 9 months earlier than Narvel and I made a decision that we actually wished to be a pair,” the nation star wrote. Following their respective divorces, they tied the knot in 1989 and welcomed a son collectively, Shelby Blackstock. Their marriage lasted near 30 years earlier than the 2 introduced they have been separating in 2015, a lot to everybody (and their mom’s) shock. McEntire has since opened up in regards to the breakup, describing it as one of many hardest and most painful chapters of her life. 

“I’ve an extended checklist and so many questions for God. Why did this occur? How did you permit that?” she advised Parade. For some time, she struggled to seek out the solutions. “It is taken me [a long time] to drag by [the] why and the way,” she stated. However little by little, she picked up the items and carried on.

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Seems, Reba McEntire’s divorce from Narvel Blackstock got here as a shock — even to her. Simply months after their divorce was finalized, she advised CMT’s Cody Alan that she had been utterly blindsided by the choice. “The divorce was not my thought. I did not need it in any form, kind, or trend,” she clarified (through Folks). Had it been as much as her, she would’ve fought for her marriage to Blackstock, however generally issues do not work out the best way you hoped. “I simply need everyone to be completely happy … as a result of our lives are too brief to be depressing,” she stated. “I simply thought it was the very best factor to take my marbles and go play elsewhere, is what daddy used to all the time say.”

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Years later, a detailed pal of McEntire’s echoed her assertion in an interview with Nearer Weekly. Contemplating how Blackstock was deeply concerned in her private life and profession, it is no shock that the break up hit her laborious. “She had no thought it was coming,” the supply added, noting that the singer gave herself a month to course of all the things earlier than transferring on. “Then she snapped out of it.”

As for what precipitated the breakup, McEntire did not provide a lot — although she did trace at unresolved points between her and Blackstock throughout her 2016 chat with Parade. “There’s been rather a lot between us and I imagine that to forgive is less complicated than overlook. I can always remember a few of what he did,” she said, with out delving into specifics.

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Reba McEntire did not simply lose her husband when she known as it quits with Narvel Blackstock again in 2015. She additionally misplaced her supervisor and a fortune of a staggering $47.5 million as a part of their divorce settlement. Sigh. To make issues even worse, her father had handed away only a 12 months earlier after an extended sickness following a stroke. He was 86 years outdated.

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“Narvel Blackstock, my supervisor and husband on the time — we bought a divorce,” Reba shared in an interview for Apple Health+ Time to Stroll (through Folks). “And the shocker of all of it was, there have been 4 individuals who have been caring for all my enterprise.” She defined, “I had my manufacturing supervisor who left; I had my CEO who left; my supervisor and husband; and my father [Clark McEntire] had died. So 4 males who have been rock and pillars of my world have been gone.”

The loss pressured Reba to take full management of her life, together with her funds. “I began realizing how a lot water price, and the electrical invoice, and all of the issues that was happening in my life,” she mused. “I made the cash, I introduced it dwelling. So it was an enormous, enormous change for me.”

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Reba McEntire recounted in her e-book “Reba: My Story” how Narvel Blackstock grew to become her street supervisor following her break up from Charlie Battles. Contemporary off the divorce, she wished to unfold her wings and make daring modifications to her life, together with her music profession. “I wished a brand new launch from one other supervisor, and the one that I turned to was Narvel.” Regardless of having no prior expertise in expertise administration, Blackstock proved himself proper for the job. “He had large ambitions and glorious instincts, the type of savvy that may’t be realized in a classroom,” stated McEntire. “He is likely one of the smartest males I’ve ever met.”

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She would, nonetheless, come to remorse this resolution as work step by step took over their relationship. Showing on “The Drew Barrymore Present” in 2024, the “Fancy” hitmaker admitted that her marriage to Blackstock felt extra like a enterprise than a romantic partnership. “It was a scenario that was all the time enterprise — whether or not we have been preparing within the morning, pillow speak, no matter,” she recalled, noting that work would not cease even throughout holidays. Maybe it was the evident crimson flag that their marriage would by no means final, however hindsight is 20/20, because the saying goes. “I believe it really works for some individuals,” McEntire then stated. “They are often married or have a relationship and work collectively.” However of their case, properly, “Our work was on a regular basis.”

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