Reba McEntire Talks Unusual Gift From Sister: ‘Keeps Me Grounded’

For the last five decades, Reba McEntire has established herself as a beloved country singer and TV star.

While speaking to People magazine in October 2025, McEntire referenced her long-lasting career in the entertainment industry. Even though she’s had impressive record sales and starred in two successful sitcoms, Reba and Happy’s Place, McEntire said she’s managed to remain down-to-earth. She also revealed that an unusual gift from her older sister, Alice Foran, grounds her.

“My sister Alice, for Christmas one year, gave me a toilet seat cover. On the top of the toilet seat it said, ‘The Twinkle,’ to let me know I’m not a star — I’m a twinkle. Keeps me grounded,” said the 70-year-old singer.

She also said that she wasn’t familiar with the entertainment industry before she entered country music stardom. McEntire explained that when she “was signing the contract 50 years ago,” she “had no idea about the music business.”

“I was a rodeo cowgirl; I was a rancher’s daughter, and a rodeo brat. To get into the music business was scary, leaving all my friends and my family, but I had great people that guided me. That was the thing I got out of this whole career — my friends,” said the Oklahoma native during the People magazine interview.

McEntire then recalled not having the most glamorous of times when she started her career as a musician.

“See, I thought when you got a record label to sign, you had a record on the radio, well, you got a tour bus, and you’re rich,” said McEntire to People. “My first tour bus was years later, and it broke down every day. Before that, I was in vans and pickup trucks with campers and horse trailers to haul the gear and stuff.”

In addition, McEntire told People that her “imagination wasn’t big enough to even create what [she has] gotten to do in [her] career.”

Reba McEntire Shared Her Advice to ‘The Voice’ Contestants

McEntire is a coach on Season 28 of the hit NBC singing competition series, The Voice. In the October 2025 People magazine interview, McEntire shared she likes to warn the show’s contestants about the realities of being a professional musician.

“The biggest piece of advice that I like to give any contestant that’s on The Voice is to have fun and make sure you want this as a career because it’s a lot of hard work,” said McEntire in the interview. “It’s a lot of dedication, it’s a lot of commitment, it’s a lot of sacrifices. So if you want to be a star, well, you’ve got a long way to go before you become a star.”

McEntire began working as a coach on The Voice during its 24th season, as reported by IMDb. She left as a coach after Season 26, but returned for the show’s current 28th season, which premiered in September 2025. Before taking the role as a coach, McEntire appeared as an advisor for contestants in The Voice Season 1 and Season 8, per IMDb. In addition, IMDb reported that McEntire was a mega-mentor during the 23rd season of The Voice.

In a May 2025 episode of Late Night With Seth Meyers, McEntire shared that she initially didn’t want to be a coach on The Voice because she didn’t “want to tell anybody they suck.” She said, however, that she soon realized that she could be a voice of encouragement for the contestants.

“But the way we did it on the first time I was on The Voice, it was more helpful and encouraging,” said McEntire on the talk show.

In addition, she said that her fellow Season 28 coaches, Snoop Dogg, Michael Bublé, and Niall Horan, exude kindness when working with members of their respective teams.

“We’re nice people. We encourage, we lift up,” said McEntire in the May 2025 interview.