Reba McEntire got real about her first impression of her boyfriend while appearing on “The Drew Barrymore Show.” The singer shared what it was like reconnecting with her new boyfriend, Rex Linn, while on set of “Young Sheldon” right before the COVID-19 lockdown. “We were all going to go out and have dinner. Melissa [Peterman] says that that was our first date, because, I mean, I was like a magnet to Rex. I just couldn’t get close enough to him,” she told Barrymore. “I don’t know why. We had talked and communicated throughout the years, had a mutual friend, Ed Gaylord, and we stayed in contact. But for some reason, that night was just so special.” McEntire has asked Linn about why he didn’t take their relationship to the next level earlier, where he responded by saying, “Probably because you would have killed me.” McEntire didn’t disagree with his assumption, saying, “He’s a wild man. He’s a 12-year-old.” Both McEntire and Linn have been in serious relationships in the past. McEntire was married twice before and Linnhas been engaged four times.

After dinner, the pair went to a wine bar where she revealed her love for tater tots. After hearing that, McEntire recalls Linn telling her, “I’m famous for giving people their nicknames, and that’s your nickname.” She continued, “Later on during the pandemic, I was in Oklahoma with my sister Susie, and she said, ‘You know he gave you Tater Tot, let’s give him Sugar Tot,'” she said. “So we’re the tots. Sugar and Tater. How about that? Is that not cute?”

McEntire and Linn first met in 1991 when they starred in the movie “The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw.” They were both in serious relationships at the time, but were both available when they reconnected on set of “Young Sheldon.” “It’s good to have a person to talk to, laugh with, get into subjects about what’s going on,” she said on an episode of her podcast, “Living & Learning,” in October 2020. “Discussions about our past, our family, funny stories, him being an actor, me being an actress. And he’s very into my music. I’m very into his career.”