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TODAY -- Pictured: Reba McEntire on Tuesday, October 10, 2023 -- (Photo by: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)© NBC

Reba McEntire's grown up son is her twin as they pose for rare family photo on special day

Reba is mom to one son, Shelby 

Rebecca Lewis
Rebecca Lewis - Los Angeles
Los Angeles correspondentLos Angeles
February 23, 2024
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Like mother, like son! The Voice star Reba McEntire has shared an adorable picture taken of the singer with her 34-year-old son, showing just how much her boy takes after his mom. 

"I sure feel a lot better today than I did 34 years ago!" Reba jokingly captioned the picture, referencing the hours she was in labor with Shelby, whom she welcomed with ex-husband Narval Blackstock. 

"From the first second I found out I was pregnant, up to today, this child is one of the biggest blessings of my life. Thank you, God, for letting me experience being a mama. I love you, Shelby, with all my heart, mind and soul." 

View post on Instagram
 

As fans flocked to the post to share their birthday wishes with Shelby, Reba's only son also commented, adding a hearty emoji and simply writing; "Love you!!" 

"He looks like his Mama. Happy Birthday," wrote one fan as another added: "Happy Birthday Shelby!! Definitely see the resemblance handsome and beautiful like his mama!!" 

Rex Linn and Reba McEntire at the "America's Got Talent" Red Carpet at the Hotel Dena on September 20, 2023 in Pasadena, California© Getty
Reba is now dating Rex Linn

"The birth was a miracle; the most profound spiritual experience I’ve ever had,” Reba wrote of the birth of Shelby in her autobiography Reba: My Story. “I was crying and kissing my baby at the same time.” 

“It’s funny, but as every mother knows, what people call ‘maternal instincts’ are real. I knew his cry instinctively,” she recalled. “I’d hear other babies and knew they weren’t Shelby.” 

Producer Narvel Blackstock (L) and wife Reba McEntire in 2015© Larry Busacca/ACM2015
Producer Narvel Blackstock (L) and wife Reba McEntire in 2015

Shelby was born in 1990, a year after her marriage to Narval; they were together for 26 years before they parted ways in 2015. But they have remained cordial, and in a candid interview with PEOPLE in 2022, the country crooner reflected: "I'm very proud of [Shelby]. He's always striving to be better. His daddy did a great job too." 

"Shelby is a gift from God to me. We're incredibly close. Before Shelby, I was a tad self-centered. But his presence shifted my focus—it became about nurturing, loving, and teaching this wonderful life I was entrusted with," she continued. 

Sharing details of how she raised her son and found time to be a wife and award-winning singer, Reba said: "I'd jet home post-concert, wake Shelby up, take him to school, and we'd spend quality time together until it was time to hit the road again. My goal was, and still is, to be there for Shelby."

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