Country music fans were shocked last August when Reba McEntire and her husband and manager Narvel Blackstock announced they were divorcing after 26 years of marriage.

The singer, who revealed on Facebook last October that the divorce had been finalized, now says said the split was never something she had wanted.

‘The divorce was not my idea,’ the 60-year-old said in an interview with iHeartRadio station CMT Radio Live. ‘I didn’t want it in any shape, form or fashion. 

So it was really hard to make the adjustment.’

She went on: ‘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.’

‘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,’ McEntire told the radio show.

McEntire also said she had a good team around her who are also making the transition and adjustments as easy as possible.

The former couple share a 26-year-old son, Shelby Blackstock, who is a race car driver.

Narvel Blackstock, 59, also has three children from a previous relationship including Brandon Blackstock who is married to singer Kelly Clarkson.