Movie legend Clint Eastwood is "not doing cartwheels that I am doing a reality show," his wife, Dina, admitted when she spoke to a gathering of TV critics at the NBC Universal Summer Press Day in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
In fact, while the famously private actor-director agreed to make a few quick cameos on the new E! series "Mrs. Eastwood & Company," he laid down a strict set of rules before allowing cameras in the family’s Carmel, Calif. home.
"Clint doesn’t want to be filmed when he is not volunteering to film,” the former newswoman revealed. "And if he is home and we are shooting, he doesn’t want the camera swooping over to him. We totally respect that."
The series follows Dina, 46, as she attempts to advance the careers of Overtone, an a cappella boy band the couple discovered four years ago in South Africa. Eastwood’s daughters Morgan, 15, and Francesca, 19, also appear.
"If people are tuning in because they’re Clint Eastwood fans, they’ll be disappointed," Dina explained. "It’s about the rest of the family, the band and their music. I gotta lay it out there.
"But we reference my husband as the head of the family. We very freely talk about him and what we think his position will be on something."
That includes one episode where Morgan, a high school freshman, lobbied to get her belly button pierced.
Dina, who married the 81 year-old icon in 1995, also admitted her husband was initially opposed to letting her use the Eastwood name for the show -- but she managed to change his mind.
"It has been a great relationship that doesn’t involve a lot of control," Dina said. "He knew he was a voluntary victim when he signed up with me -- and me with him. He just respects the fact that I have done something with this amazing band and I want to see it through."
"Mrs. Eastwood & Company" premieres May 20 at 10 p.m. ET.
Will you tune in to see what family life is like for Oscar-winner Eastwood? Tell us on our Facebook page.
Sean Daly runs the blog SingersAndCritics.com, which covers reality singing-competition shows.
Related content:
Also in The Clicker: