LeAnn Rimes and her husband Eddie Cibrian are ready to take their life back with LeAnn & Eddie, a new VH1 series premiering Thursday (July 17) at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.

If the beginnings of Rimes' relationship with the actor could be described in a country song, it might be Barbara Mandrell's 1977 hit, "Married but Not to Each Other."

She was married to Dean Sheremet, a dancer she met at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2001. Cibrian was married to actress Brandi Glanville, who has openly talked about her ex-husband during her tenure as a cast member of the Bravo reality series Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Married to others or not, when two celebrities strike up a romance, the tabloids are sure to follow. Perhaps not unexpectedly, Rimes and Cibrian were the subjects of numerous rumors after photos surfaced of them together in Los Angeles.

They married in 2011, but the paparazzi and sensational headlines still follow them.

As long as they remain fodder for the media, the couple decided it was time to tell their side of the story in LeAnn & Eddie.

"Everyone's used our lives as entertainment, so we wanted to actually kind of take our life back," Rimes said during a media gathering hosted by VH1 during the Television Critics Association fall previews.

"We definitely hit on the tabloid fodder because that's what surrounded our lives so much in the past five years," Rimes said. "I think we're really kidding ourselves with the illusion of a private life because it's very hard."

Rimes added, "What's really real about the show is our relationship. You'll see how we interact with one another."

"Ultimately, this is a comedy," Cibrian said. "That's kind of how we go about our life, as well. We laugh, and it really helps. It's a show not about real dysfunction or exploitation. It's a fun show to watch, and you laugh, and that's kind of the area we wanted to explore."

Rimes and Cibrian say the VH1 series is an accurate depiction of their life together.

"There are some things that are kind of embarrassing that we left on the show because we thought it was funny," he said. "We really didn't censor ourselves that much."

"There's nothing to hide," Rimes said. "There is, I feel, only great things to gain by being who we are and allowing people to see that."