Larry Busacca/ACM2015/Getty Images for dcpReba McEntire initially had no intention of divorcing her husband of 26 years and manager, Narvel Blackstock.
The two shocked fans when they announced last August they had separated several months prior, adding they "have worked together for 35 years and will continue to do so." The 60-year-old country singer later confirmed the pair finalized their divorce in October.
"The divorce was not my idea," McEntire said in an interview with iHeartRadio station CMT Radio Live this week. "I didn't want it in any shape, form or fashion. So it was really hard to make the adjustment. When someone's not happy, I just want everybody to be happy in their lives because our lives are too short to be miserable, so I just thought it was the best thing to take my marbles, go play somewhere else, is what Daddy used to always [say]."
"But the thing that got me through all of this change in my life, number one, is God," she added. "I've prayed every day to help me have the strength to move one foot in front of the other, to continue on with what I'm supposed to be doing and why he put me on this earth in the first place."
She also credited her colleagues, friends and family with helping her get through it. McEntire and her ex-husband, 59, are parents to a 26-year-old son, Shelby Blackstock, a race car driver. Narvel also has three children from a previous relationship, including Brandon Blackstock, who is married to Kelly Clarkson.
"You've got to have a great team of people around you that you love and they love you and I'm very blessed to have those people and I thank God for it all," she said.