Shirley MacLaine opens up about her former OK-to-cheat marriage

Shirley MacLaine, the 81-year-old actress who believes she’s had past lives, is busy enough in her current one — talking about her former “open” marriage.

“I guess you would say ‘practiced an open marriage’ in 1954, which was another lifetime,” she said in a radio town hall noted by People magazine. “No one understood it; we did. He lived in Japan basically. I lived in America working, and this and that.”

She said of her ex, Steve Parker: “We’d meet up, always great friends, traveled sometimes together.”

MacLaine said: “I think that’s the basis for a long-lasting marriage, if you really want to do such a thing. I would say better to stay friends and we don’t have enough time to talk about the sexuality of all. I was very open about all of that and so was he.”

She said she’s having a relationship now — but not a human kind — “teaching me about possessiveness with intimacy, and it’s with my three dogs. I adore my dogs. And I’ve had to get a dog nanny/food lady for the dogs because I’ve been working so much.”

The dogs have become attached to their new caregiver.

“It is tough — I’m not kidding you,” she says. “Totally indiscreet … I’m really learning what people will do for food.”