Following the death of music manager Brandon Blackstock last month at age 48, his former stepmother Reba McEntire offered a family update on Sunday’s Emmys red carpet.
McEntire was married to Brandon’s dad, Starstruck co-founder Narvel Blackstock, for 26 years and is the mother of Brandon’s half-brother Shelby. When Brandon married Kelly Clarkson in 2013, McEntire all of a sudden became family with Clarkson, a singer she had performed with before the marital connection. (Reba and Narvel divorced in 2015, while Kelly and Brandon ended their marriage in 2022.) Before his death, Brandon Blackstock had four children: Savannah and Seth from a previous marriage and River Rose and Remy with Clarkson.
At Sunday’s Emmys, an Entertainment Tonight reporter asked McEntire how the whole family is holding up following Brandon’s death.
“Well, we miss him. We miss him every minute,” McEntire said. “The kids are doing well. They’re all bonding together and hanging out with each other and taking it one day at a time. We know God’s got this.”
The reporter also asked how Reba’s son is doing, to which she replied: “Shelby’s doing great, thank you for asking.”
Brandon Blackstock died on Aug. 7 after battling cancer for three years.
Also on Sunday’s Emmys red carpet, McEntire revealed that she’s engaged to her Happy’s Place co-star Rex Linn after dating for five years. McEntire was previously married to Charlie Battles from 1976 to 1987 and to Narvel Blackstock from 1989 to 2015.
When E! News asked her last year if she would consider getting married a third time for Linn, Reba said: “If that’s something he feels totally strong about, that’s fine with me. He’s never been married before. So, if he wants to experience that, I’m OK with that.”