Singer Pickler gets personal on reality show

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -— Country singer Kellie Pickler is a veteran of reality television after honing her musical and dancing skills on “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars,” so she was very careful about agreeing to a new CMT reality show about her marriage to songwriter-producer Kyle Jacobs.

“You definitely have to set boundaries from the start with anything you do,” Pickler said of her new show, “I Love Kellie Pickler.” “And keep things sacred for you and your marriage.”

The 13-episode series, produced by Ryan Seacrest and premiering Thursday at 10 p.m. Eastern, doesn’t have the designer lifestyle and high drama found in the Kardashian household, or the raucous, drunken carousing of CMT’s signature reality show, “Party Down South.”

The sweet Southern singer and her husband wanted to give fans a peek at their home life, but in a wholesome, famil- friendly way.

“We want to keep it light and positive,” Pickler said in an interview with The Associated Press at her Nashville home during the shooting of the docuseries. “There’s enough darkness out in the world. And there’s enough negativity on television.”

“There’s no drama crazy,” Jacobs said.

“No,” Pickler said. “Definitely not. There are no cat fights. We don’t have cats. … He’s allergic.”

Instead, on full display is Pickler’s bubbly personality that drew people to her when she was just starting out as a young singer on “Idol.”

The series follows the couple, who have been married nearly five years, through the busy summer touring season, taking trips with friends and renewing their vows.

“People know what we do in front of the curtain,” Pickler said. “They know what we do onstage or what he does in the studio. This is about who we are when we clock out.”