The best way to deal with the tabloids and public constantly talking about your relationship? Do a reality show.
Sure, it might not make much sense at first, but it's exactly what Eddie Cibrian and LeAnn Rimes decided to do with their new unscripted VH1 series, LeAnn & Eddie, which debuts Thursday, July 17.
With LeAnn citing the eight-episode series as a way to "take our life back and have fun with our story and where we are now" at the 2014 Summer TCA Press Tour on Friday, Eddie acknowledged the irony of turning to reality TV as a way to stop tabloid fodder.
"Come on, we're all realistic," Eddie answered when asked if he really thought doing the show would get the press to stop the tabloid's coverage of the show.
"Ultimately, we wanted to do a show and I think that this format and this genre, unscripted, gave us an opportunity to do something fun and work together," he continued. "What's really real about the show is our relationship juxtaposed by everything the public reads and is fed by the tabloids…ultimately, this is a comedy and that's how we go about our life as well, is we laugh and it really helps."
LeAnn added to that point, saying, "I think people think we take ourselves super seriously and we don't at all."
But is the couple looking at this show as their way to fire back at Eddie's outspoken ex-wife Brandi Glanville, star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, in a major (and public) way? "This show is not an opportunity to fire back at anybody," Eddie insisted. "If anything, it's very much a satire and you'll see that."
And like The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, LeAnn & Eddie will not feature appearances by the former couple's two children, who are 11 and 7. "They are not in the show and that was a decision that we made together, that it's not about that," Eddie explained. "Keep them out of it as much as possible. My kids are not in my ex-wife's show and they're definitely not going to be in ours, and that's that."
LeAnn expanded a bit, saying, "We do talk about the kids in the show. We do discuss Eddie's ex-wife when it needed to be discussed..…you can't really do a show without talking about that." (And the duo definitely discusses Brandi in the first trailer for the show.)
And LeAnn and Eddie are not looking to other couples who've turned to reality TV, specifically Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott, who aired their recent relationship troubles on True Tori, for guidance on how to handle their time in front of the cameras.
"That's obviously not what we're doing at all," Eddie said, while LeAnn added, "We're together. Still." She then joked, "We wanted to ruin our marriage so that's why we went into this!"
While there are currently no plans on doing another season, Eddie joked, "That's up to the tabloids. If they want to stop writing about us..." But LeAnn hinted that she would be open to filming more episodes, saying, "If this goes past a first season, I think it will just evolve into the next phase, whether that's tabloid fodder or music."
LeAnn & Eddie premieres Thursday, July 17 at 10:30 p.m. on VH1.