Reba McEntire is a big fan of Taylor Swift, but she’s not too pleased that the pop star stole her fantasy boyfriend, Travis Kelce.
“Oh, my gosh, I am so mad at her because I had a crush on him,” McEntire, 68, joked during a Tuesday, October 10, appearance on Today. “Now I can’t have a crush anymore because he’s dating her.”
The Voice coach said the rumors of the romance between the singer, 33, and the football star, 34, definitely caught her attention.
“I was so devastated,” McEntire commented, referring to Kelce as her “boyfriend that cheated on” her.
The country legend was not seriously upset, though — and in fact has admired Swift for many years.
“Let me just tell you, I am Taylor Swift’s biggest fan,” McEntire told Entertainment Tonight in 2015. “I think she is a great role model, I think she’s smart as a tack, and I think she is absolutely beautiful. She carries herself so well, says the right thing at the right time, she’s just amazing.”
While some country artists have criticized Swift for crossing over to pop music, McEntire is proud of her success.
“I think it’s wonderful,” McEntire added. “Why should country music just keep her to ourselves? She does need to be on all genres of music.”
McEntire has been in a steady relationship with actor Rex Linn since 2020, but she noted that he is not jealous of her crush on the Kansas City Chiefs tight end.
“Isn’t that sad?” she joked.
McEntire, a football fan, was not shy about letting Linn, 66, know she liked Kelce.
“We were watching him play because I love the Chiefs and I love Patrick [Mahomes], and I’d say, ‘Oh, he’s so cute,’” she recalled.
Linn, who starred in CSI: Miami from 2002 to 2012, teased McEntire when Swift and Kelce were romantically linked.
“‘Your boyfriend’s got another girlfriend,’” McEntire recalled Linn saying. In response, she quipped, “Rub it in.”
McEntire and Linn are very confident in their relationship after first meeting in 1991 and then reuniting 29 years later while working on Young Sheldon.
Their love connection began when Linn texted her, asking, ‘You’re coming to L.A.? Let’s have dinner.’”
McEntire said his text made her realize she had strong feelings for him.
“I don’t know what it was about it,” McEntire remembered. “I wanted to get in to see Rex so bad I could hardly stand it.” After they had dinner, she said, “We were inseparable.”
McEntire recently revealed that she nearly ended her iconic music career when mother, Jacqueline, died on March 14, 2020. She was 93.
During her appearance on Today, McEntire shared that Linn was the key to her coping with her mom’s passing.
“When you have somebody to share the grief with, when you have somebody to share the fun [and] the sad times, it’s always so much better,” she said. “And Rex is a very uplifting, positive man, and I love him with all my heart.”
