Reba McEntire’s heartbreaking personal loss that almost ended her career
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Reba McEntire’s heartbreaking personal loss that almost ended her career

Posted on by Amelia Pressman

In a recent interview on TodayReba McEntire opened up about how she almost ended her career in country music after her mother’s death in 2020.

The inspirational country star, now 68, told hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager that her grief over losing her 93-year-old mother Jacqueline to cancer in 2020 was almost unbearable. She even said that she almost stopped singing altogether.

Reba said that after her mother died, she went through some old photos with her sister Susie.

“I said, ‘I just don’t think I’ll do this again,'” Reba recalled of the conversation with her sister. “(Susie) said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Singing.’ I said, ‘I always did it for mom.’ She said, ‘Oh, you get it back.’ That’s what I did.”

We definitely understand where Reba was coming from in that moment. Her mother was the one who instilled Reba’s love of music, which extended to her entire family. Reba and her three siblings (including Pake and Alice) were often referred to as “the singing McEntires” as children.

“She really encouraged all of us kids, whatever we wanted to do,” Reba said. “She taught us harmony. Whenever anyone needed an opinion about who was free, Mom would come in with her spatula after frying potatoes.”

Reba’s latest song “Seven Minutes In Heaven” by Not so fancy is a tribute to her mother.

Reba has survived heartbreak and trauma before, and that only makes her more inspiring

Long before Reba tragically lost her mother, she too suffered severe grief.

In 1991, seven members of her backing band and crew died in a plane crash after a performance in San Diego, California. Reba had chosen to stay in California with her then-husband to recover from bronchitis symptoms rather than get on a plane with her band. This decision saved her life, but also left her with lifelong trauma from the accident.

Brave as always, Reba carried on and didn’t let the accident end her career. She never forgot her friends either. Earlier this year, Reba released a heartfelt tribute to her backing band 33 years after the accident.

If anyone in the world of country music is an inspiration, it’s Reba McEntire.

Photo by John Salangsang/Shutterstock

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