Kellie Pickler on New Reality Show: ‘It’s an Open Book’
From her sixth-place finish on American Idol to a winning appearance on Dancing With the Stars, Kellie Picker is no stranger to TV land. But the country singer now has her own show, a 13-episode reality romp titled I Love Kellie Pickler that premieres tonight, November 5th, at 10:00 p.m./ET on CMT.
Produced by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, the series shines a light not on Pickler’s music, but on her relationship with husband, songwriter and producer Kyle Jacobs. In a sizzle reel for the show, CMT captures the pair relaxing at home, speeding through the Nashville suburbs in Pickler’s Jeep and attempting to say “boiled peanuts” with heavy Southern accents. Not exactly Emmy material, perhaps. . .but that’s fine with Pickler, who views the show as a video scrapbook capturing the highlights — not the lows — of the past summer.
“It’s lighthearted and funny and silly,” she told Rolling Stone Country last week, hours after the show wrapped up its final day of filming. “These are short, 30-minute episodes, so it’s not anything dramatic or serious. We just wanted to capture who we are when we clock out of work. It’s about us — not what we do for our profession, but what we do at home with our friends.”
You’ve been on television since American Idol in 2005. Take us back to that time. What was it like being part of the biggest show on TV?
With Idol, you don’t know what you’re doing. That show shines a light on people who are green in the business, and I was definitely green. I was 19! I’d never been on an airplane. Suddenly, I’m out in Hollywood and don’t know anybody. I don’t know who’s on my side. I just decided to wear my heart on my sleeve and learn as I go. There’s no way to prepare for this industry, so you just have to jump in and see what happens. And at the end of the day, this is all first-world problems. We’re in the entertainment world! We are supposed to entertain people.
I Love Kellie Pickler focuses on your life offstage. Did your time on Idol teach you any lessons about keeping parts of your personal life private?
One of the things that makes the singers on that show so relatable is that Idol does shine a light on their backstories, so people at home can get to know them. This new show isn’t a huge stretch from that. My story has always been an open book. With anything you do in life — professionally or personally — you have to build boundaries and only share what you’re comfortable sharing. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing a private part of your life, you don’t have to. So from the get-go, Kyle and I had to build boundaries. You can let people in without exploiting every part of your life.