Courtesy of Reba McEntire/Instagram
Reba McEntire Reveals the Adorable Nickname That Her Boyfriend Rex Linn Gave Her on ‘The Voice’
Reba McEntire made her coaching debut on The Voice on Monday, September 25. Fans of the country music icon couldn’t help but swoon over all of her cute mentions of her boyfriend, Rex Linn.
The night was full of stellar performances, epic chair turns and tater tots! Reba, 68, revealed during the episode that Rex, 66, adorably refers to her as “Tater Tot.” In turn, the “I’m a Survivor” singer refers to her beau as “Sugar Tot.”
To help persuade contestants on The Voice to join her team, Reba set up a tater tot station for all of her team members to enjoy after their auditions. A photo of the music superstar and her boyfriend later flashed on the screen to remind viewers just how cute the couple is.
Reba and Rex first met on the set of the 1991 film The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw. But it wasn’t until almost three decades later that they decided to give a relationship a try. In early 2020, the pair met up for dinner where their nicknames for each other first originated.
“We all went to dinner, had a good time, went down the street to a wine bar and they said, ‘Well, I understand you’ve already had dinner, but we do have some good appetizers,'” Reba explained during a March 2023 appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show.
The “Fancy” songstress continued, “I said, ‘What do you have?’ They said, ‘Well, we have tater tots.’ I went, [raises hand], and so Rex said, ‘That’s your nickname from here on out — Tater Tot.’”
The nicknames obviously stuck for both Reba and Rex, who recently walked the red carpet together ahead of her breathtaking performance on America’s Got Talent.
“We’re the Tots — Sugar and Tater,” she declared. “So, we’ve been together ever since. He’s a sweetheart.”
Rex has long had a knack for giving people nicknames and was happy to find the perfect one for his leading lady.
“My nicknames are legendary. They stick with people,” the Better Caul Saul star shared during an episode of the podcast “Living & Learning with Reba McEntire” in October 2021. “But I never premeditate them and they always have to present themselves.”
As for the details of their first date, the happy couple are always sharing sweet snippets on how their romance came to be.
“That was the perfect moment. You ordered tater tots, you delved into them like a great white shark with ketchup,” he told Reba. “And I just thought, ‘That’s it. It’s Tater Tot.'”
