What Reba McEntire Fans May Not Know About The Star

Reba McEntire was, says Biography, born in Oklahoma into a rodeo-loving family who specialized in roping steer. Much of her childhood revolved around the rodeo, and a close-knit family who just happened to sing their way through long car rides.

When her father passed away in 2014, the news was picked up by outlets like the Associated Press and Billboard. McEntire tweeted that he had been sick for several years: "It makes total sense to me, he always told us kids never to run your horse to the barn. He was just taking his time to go on home." McEntire later released a video for her song "Just Like Them Horses," as a tribute to her father. The video, says Rolling Stone, was the song that she had sung at his funeral, was filmed on the family's Oklahoma land, and featured McEntire's mother, Jacqueline. 

McEntire credited her mother with holding the family together, and in 2020, she announced that her mother, too, had passed away after a diagnosis of cancer. A few months later, she spoke with "Today" about how she had been planning her mother's funeral when COVID quarantine rules began. "It was a true blessing, it really was. I got to stay there at Mama's house and ... going through drawers and boxes, and found pictures we'd never seen before, and we cried, we laughed, we toasted Mama. It was just an absolute, huge blessing to get to do that."

When she was interviewed by The Oklahoman way back in 1984, Reba McEntire was still just a rising star. At the time, she was getting ready to play a post-rodeo show in an abandoned building, and her regular appearances at barn dances and rodeos overlapped with some chart-topping hits and national attention. They touched on the moment she knew she was a born performer: She was in first grade, and stepped up to the microphone for a solo in a Christmas pageant. Following that, she was able to combine her two great passions — singing and the rodeo — which is ultimately what got her noticed in a big way.

She described how they were connected in the "Dear Rodeo" documentary, saying that it was her father who decided that since she was going to be going up to the National Finals Rodeo anyway — "I loved to party after the rodeo, watch the barrel racing, and have all my buddies up there," — that she could at least get a job there. That was singing the national anthem, which she did from 1974 to 1984 — and then for a few more years after the rodeo's move to Las Vegas.

It was her performance there that got the attention of Texas entertainer Red Steagall, who asked McEntire's mother if they'd be interested in getting her a recording contract. Eleven months later, she had one.

In 1999, Reba McEntire released "Comfort from a Country Quilt," a book meant to share the down-home, out-on-the-range wisdom and values that she had grown up with. In one chapter, she shares something that everyone can relate to, whether they're fans of country music or not — and that's the fear of getting sick.

She wrote about how grateful she was for the physical and mental strength that she was given, but admitted, "God gave me this body. And I try to take care of it the best I know how. I wasn't always this in tune with my body, and I regret how I abused it while I was growing up."

McEntire goes on to detail what she means, and it starts with her old habits of going out in the sun with no sunscreen. That wasn't the only bad habit she said she needed to focus on, though, and says that yes, she drank too much while she was in college, spent years lifting and carrying heavy feed sacks the wrong way, and didn't drink nearly enough water. Also on the list? Fried food. While she said she had cut back and made those a guilty pleasure, they had once been an every-meal occurrence, from fried bologna sandwiches to fried bacon and gravy made from the bacon grease. Delicious, sure, but healthy? Not quite.

In 2001, Reba McEntire made the jump to television with the sitcom "Reba," and it had a good run. According to what she told Taste of Country Nights, they had much, much more planned for the show when they were suddenly canceled: "We had no idea why they canceled us. We were a huge success, so it was a head-scratcher for us."

Getting a definite answer is difficult, but according to TV Series Finale, insiders from MediaWeek and TV Guide said it had nothing to do with ratings. Instead, it happened because of a network merger that put the show on a new channel called The CW, which was looking to attract a demographic outside of what fans of "Reba" were looking for.

McEntire, however, hasn't given up on the show. In 2017, she spoke with ET about her future in television and dropped some tantalizing hints about how a "Reba" reboot might be in the cards: "There have been some [talks] in the past, and hopefully some in the future, too. We'd love to do it." In 2018, she posted a photo on her Instagram showing her with some of her old cast members, writing, "Now all we need is the rest of the REBA cast!!"

Reba McEntire shared the importance of putting on a whole show in her autobiography, "Reba: My Story," and talked about one infamous incident in particular. It was, of course, that sparkly red dress with the plunging neckline that she wore at the 1993 CMA Awards for a duet with Linda Davis. She recalled wanting something special, and picking the color while she was laid up in bed following surgery on her foot. And then? "From the minute I walked onstage to sing, I was hearing 'o-o-o-o-o-s' and 'a-a-h-h-hs.' But I soon realized that some of those sounds from the audience were actually gasps — at the lowness of my neckline."

The following day, she found herself plastered all over front pages, and letters of pure rage were showing up in Tennessee newspapers. Radio show callers were shouting from the rooftops, and McEntire later commented at a Caesar's Palace show, "I wish she [designer Sandi Spika] had told me that I had it on backwards!"

Jokes aside, McEntire loved the dress: she told People that after a lifetime of jeans, flannels, and hand-me-downs, the chance to get up on stage and sparkle like there was no tomorrow was the best feeling. Then, years later, she made an undeniable statement: She wore it again, this time, to the 2018 ACM Awards (via People).

There's no telling what's going to make a performer stand out, and according to Cowboys & Indians, one thing that has made Reba McEntire such an enduring, endearing personality is that she's stayed true to her roots. That becomes clear just by listening to her, because she still has the same Oklahoma accent she's always had — and she's spoken about just how much it means to her, and how there was no question about keeping it.

She explained to Southern Living that she had always been proud to be from Oklahoma, and "When I went to LA and people had said, 'Oh, you kept your accent.' I said, 'Well, that's the way I talk.' 'Yeah, but don't you want to change it?' And I said, 'Well, why? Then that wouldn't be Reba. That'd be somebody else.'"

McEntire has said that she's encouraged others in her family to keep their accents and stay true to themselves, too. When her niece, Garrett Smith, tried to break into acting, one of the first things she was told when she got to California was to lose the accent and go blonde. McEntire warned her against it, saying, "You can't be cookie-cutter. You've got to stand out and be different. A good kind of different."

It's easy to think that once someone becomes an icon in the entertainment industry, it's all smooth sailing from there on out. In 2015, Reba McEntire spoke with Rolling Stone to say that for her, that wasn't the case at all.

Sure, she had sold more than 56 million albums, had a hit TV show, and was a concert favorite, but said that after 2010, she deliberately took a step back from music. Why? She no longer heard her type of trademark song — those that told a story — on the radio. It wasn't until she got an offer from Nash Icon Records that she returned to sing again, but she said that it wasn't easy.

"I'm a regular person — of course I've got doubts and insecurities," she said when asked if she thought people missed hearing her new releases. "I had no idea. I certainly wasn't like, 'Well, I bet they can't wait until my stuff comes out. Good Lord, I bet they've been losing sleep.'" At the time McEntire was signed to the new label — which was founded to have a focus on veteran artists — she was the very first to be approached and say yes. Simply put? "Well, I was flattered to death."