“We just kept talking and visiting and finally got together,” the singer and actress told Today

reba and rex linn

Reba McEntire and Rex Linn. Photo: ABC via Getty

Reba McEntire isn’t asking herself “Does He Love You?”

On Thursday, the country legend went on Today and chatted about her relationship with actor Rex Linn, which she said spawned after her mother Jacqueline got sick in the pandemic. (She died last year.)

“Rex and I have known each other since ’91 when we were in The Gambler movie together with Kenny Rogers and then have known each other, kept in contact,” the 66-year-old told the morning show.

“And then in 2020 when Mama got sick, he called me,” she added. (Her mother died of cancer.) “We’d gotten to see each other before because we’re both on Young Sheldon. So starting in March of 2020, we just kept talking and visiting and finally got together, see each other in June. And we’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since.”

Linn, 66, and McEntire went on their first date back in January, but started seriously dating amid the pandemic.

“It’s good to have a person to talk to, laugh with, get into subjects about what’s going on,” she said in October last year. “Discussions about our past, our family, funny stories, him being an actor, me being an actress. And he’s very into my music. I’m very into his career.”

“It’s just great getting to talk to somebody who I find very interesting, very funny, very smart and is interested in me, too,” she added.

Back in January, the couple went to a theater to watch Tom Hanks’ movie News of the World for their first-ever movie date.

“AMC offers private screenings…. we took them up on it. First movie date!” McEntire captioned the photos, which Linn shared to his Instagram page.

McEntire and Linn, who affectionately call each other “Tater Tot” and “Sugar Tot,” made their red carpet debut at the CMA Awards in November 2020. “We’re both excited that he’s going to be there with me,” McEntire told PEOPLE ahead of the show.

McEntire was married twice before. She and Narvel Blackstock separated and divorced in 2015 after 26 years together. Before then, she was married to Charlie Battles from 1976 to 1987. She last dated Anthony “Skeeter” Lasuzzo in 2017, before the two split in 2019. Meanwhile, Linn was previously engaged to Renee DeRese in 2010.