 In 1976 , McEntire married national steer wrestling champion and rancher Charlie Battles who was ten years older than her and had two teenage sons , Lance and Coty . Together , the couple owned a ranch in Oklahoma and Battles also managed her career . In 1987 , McEntire divorced Battles and moved to Nashville , Tennessee . She later commented to Bob Allen of Country Music about their separation , saying , " I had to pack everything in one day and leave . I was totally starting over . " McEntire later claimed that she wanted to focus more on her music career , while Battles felt she had peaked and insisted that she remain at home , helping to take care of the ranch and quit her music career . McEntire stated , " I wasn 't the little girl anymore , taking orders , and doing what he said . I knew my career had not peaked and I wasn 't going to walk away from it when I was rolling in awards , charting number one hits , and touring and selling out concerts . I had worked so hard to get my career to that level of success and I meant I wasn 't giving it up yet . A lot of people said I put my career before my marriage , and maybe I did , I don 't know . But we had grown apart so much on a personal level and wanted two different things out of life . There were personal issues other than my career coming between us and when you can 't respect somebody anymore , you can 't have a marriage , so I walked away . " Battles had a major stroke in 2006 and became totally disabled as a result . He died on April 21 , 2013 . 
