Reba McEntire Was ‘Haunted’ by a Time She Wished She Could Have Helped a Family Member
Country star Reba McEntire wrote in her autobiography, Reba: My Story, she likes to be in a “position to help” other people. But she recalled being “haunted” when she couldn’t save a family member in desperate need. “I wish I could have helped,” she shared, “but could I have helped if I had only known?”
Reba McEntire’s family members were ‘expected to unexpectedly drop by’ in her childhood
As McEntire wrote in Reba: My Story, her cousin, Diannia Kay, “walked freely” in and out of the McEntire home for as far back as she could remember. “When I was growing up, most of my family lived within driving, or horse-riding, distance of each other,” she noted. “Cousins, aunts, and uncles were expected to unexpectedly drop by. And they did.”
McEntire said she and Diannia shared “more than just ties of blood” and were “constantly together as childhood playmates, from the first grade all the way up through the Kiowa High School Cowboy Band.”
When the country superstar moved away from home to start building her music career, her cousin married and had a child. But Diannia and her husband, Bill, “began having problems after a while.”
“Diannia was crying a lot, very depressed,” McEntire shared, “and in her own way, in the form of a letter, tried to let us know.”
The loss of a family member ‘haunted’ Reba McEntire
In March of 1980, McEntire had just turned 25 and was still early in her career. She arrived home from a weekend tour and called her mother like she usually did. When she asked for a rundown of what happened while away, she received tragic news — Diannia died by suicide.
McEntire said the loss of her cousin and the questions about what more she could have done “haunted” her. “I wish I could have helped,” she wrote, “but could I have helped if I had only known?”
She added, “Suicide always leaves the loved ones left behind feeling helpless and guilty,” adding, “I felt both.”
“Here I had been busy trying to build a career when Diannia had been trying to build peace of mind,” she concluded.
Following a plane crash that killed most of her band in 1991, McEntire sang “If I Had Only Known” on her album, For My Broken Heart. She dedicated the song to the eight friends she lost in the crash. But she noted in her autobiography it was also appropriate for her feelings about Dianna.
Reba McEntire is grateful to be in a ‘position to help’ when she can
McEntire lamented Diannia’s death and her feelings of guilt long after it happened. But the prolific country singer also described another time when she felt fulfilled after helping many people in need. She saw a news segment on homeless people “freezing out in the elements” and said it “tore [her] up.”
So, she went to Wal-Mart on a shopping spree for pillows, blankets, socks, and other provisions. Then, the items were sent along to a local rescue mission. And in the end, McEntire said she was just full of “gratitude that God had let [her] be in a position to help.”
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Or text HOME to 741-741 to speak with a trained crisis counselor at the free Crisis Text Line.
