A recently resurfaced interview from the late 1980s featuring country music star Reba McEntire has drawn attention online for her candid discussion about a challenging encounter with a fan following her first divorce in 1987.

Reba Responds To An Upset Fan

During the interview, McEntire addressed a question from actress and comedian Vicki Lawrence concerning public judgment surrounding her divorce. In her response, McEntire recounted receiving a letter from a fan who was upset because of her separation from her husband.

“There was one woman that wrote a real heavy letter to me and said ‘How dare you get a divorce?’” McEntire remembered. “How do you answer something like that?”

McEntire opened up about the letter’s contents, where the fan expressed disapproval and revealed that she had modeled her own life after the singer. The fan, who idolized McEntire, felt let down and betrayed when learning of her divorce, even confessing that she had stayed in her own marriage because she believed McEntire was staying in hers.

“And I wrote her back…I said first of all you need to not look up to me because I’m just a human who makes huge mistakes just like everybody else,” McEntire revealed.

“And if you want to find someone who’s perfect, you need to look to God because he’s the only one that’s perfect,” she added.

McEntire stressed the importance of self-reflection, advising the fan to focus on her own life instead of comparing herself to others.

“I said, you really need to look at your own life and think about things a bit more.. don’t go look at other people [and] how they’re doing their life.”

The interview clip has garnered attention online, with many praising McEntire for her candidness and empathy in addressing the complexities of public perception and personal struggles.

Watch Reba McEntire talk about the fan encounter below.