Reba McEntire Said Fans ‘Might Have Been More Upset’ Than She Was About Her Divorce

Reba McEntire has been in the brightest of spotlights for decades. And in those years, she’s conquered the world of country music, film, and even sitcom acting. Of course, she’s also gathered a huge and loyal fanbase to show for it.

Also in that time, McEntire twice went through divorce. While many fans have heard about her 2015 split from Narvel Blackstock — once father-in-law to Kelly Clarkson — not everyone is as up-to-date about her first marriage. That wasn’t always the case, though. She once said fans “might have been more upset about” that divorce than she was.

Fans were ‘upset’ about Reba McEntire’s 1st divorce

After McEntire’s first divorce from Charlie Battles, she told the Los Angeles Times, “There was no great story there,” adding, “I was in love and then I fell out of love.”

However, the “Fancy” singer said some of her admirers might not have agreed with her about that.

“Fans were upset about it. They don’t like to see that stuff,” she shared. “They might have been more upset about it than I was.”

But why did fans like the couple so much?

Reba McEntire’s marriage to Charlie Battles

In 1976, McEntire married steer wrestling champion and rancher Charlie Battles when she was 21. He was 10 years older and had two sons from a previous marriage. She writes in Reba: My Story, “The year I was married, 1976, also brought me another great joy: my first hit song.”

So, as McEntire was beginning to mold a place for herself in country music, she was also a young newlywed and new stepmother. Once a barrel racer herself, she said she and Battles bonded over their mutual loves of ranching and rodeoing. It seems her early fans came to look at them as an ideal couple.

But McEntire writes about the ups and downs of that marriage in her book. Specifically, she discusses a time Battles was preparing to go feed cattle with his sons, so she got ready to hop in the truck to go along. “There’s not enough room,” she recalls her husband telling her before closing the door and driving away.

She writes that she could have accepted hearing, “I think the boys and I need a little time together today.”

But she would have preferred to be a part of what was normally her job. To be excluded from the family and her usual chores with no explanation was deeply painful for her. She concludes, “That just broke my heart.”

Reba McEntire’s divorce from Charlie Battles

That heartbreaking incident wasn’t the moment McEntire’s first marriage ended, according to what she shares in Reba: My Story. When Battles was winding down in his rodeo career, he became more involved in her music career. She reveals it caused “so much tension” for everyone involved, in part because he was controlling and would call her names like “wench.”

Furthermore, he “loved to trade” and would “buy something he didn’t need, and sell something he did, just to be trading,” she writes. That came to a head when he sold her horse, Legs, just because he “got a good buy on him.”

But the moment she knew her marriage was over was when — for the first time — she grew afraid Battles would hit her. After she questioned him about taking $400 out of her purse, she writes that he “reared back with his shaving kit in his hand” and she ran from him in fear.

She notes that the shaving kit was one that she had specially made for him, which she wrapped “lovingly and carefully” to give to him on Christmas. She was hurt that he didn’t notice the care she’d taken in it and the gift eventually became a “symbol of all that had become unbearable” about their marriage.

In the end, McEntire did what she knew was right for herself, even if it was hard for some fans to understand.