“Things started going south with my marriage. Narvel Blackstock, my manager and husband at the time — we got a divorce, and the shocker of it all was, there were four people who were taking care of all my business,” she says of the experience. “I had my production manager who left, I had my CEO who left, my manager and husband, and my father had died. So four men who were rock and pillars of my world were gone.”
“I started taking over signing the checks and then I started realizing how much water cost, and the electric bill, and all the things that was going on in my life,” she continued. “I made the money, I brought it home. So it was a huge, huge change for me.”
McEntire grieved the death of her father after he died at age 86 in October 2014, just before her divorce from Blackstock, to whom she was married to for a total of 26 years.
Everything that I was dealing with privately, personally — I had to run it all through God. I had to say, ‘OK big boy, I can’t handle this. This is way over my pay grade — I don’t know what to do,’” she said.
“And I would wait, and He would guide me. And so without my faith, I have no idea where I would be or my career would be, at this time today.”
“If someone walked up to me and said, ‘Reba, I’m going through a situation like you did — what’s your advice?’ I would say, ‘Go home, regroup, and listen to see what you’re supposed to do next.’ Rally friends around you, good positive friends that have your best interests at heart — which I did — and you will survive,’” she added.
And from surviving to thriving, Reba has just dropped a brand new music video to go with a remake of her classic song, “I’m a Survivor.”
The more stripped-down and soulful song is part of her soon-to-be-released triple album of redone songs, Revived, Remixed, Revisited.
Her new triple album arrives this Friday, October 8. Until then, be sure to check out the stunning music video below.