Carrie Underwood is arguably the biggest country music star in the industry right now. After winning American Idol in 2005, Underwood went on to release her debut album, called Some Hearts. The album was so successful, the new star won Country Album of the Year and Album of the Year from the Billboard Music Awards. It also won Album of the Year from the Academy of Country Music Awards. In 2009, Some Hearts was named country album of the decade.
Since then, Underwood has been basically unstoppable. With seven Grammy awards to her name, the country singer was poised to take over the industry with nothing in her way. However, things changed in November of 2017 when news broke that she had been rushed to the hospital after a fall for "multiple injuries including a broken wrist and some cuts and abrasions from the fall."
Underwood reportedly fell down a flight of stairs in her home while she was at home with her son, Isaiah. NHL player Mike Fisher, Underwood's husband, flew home immediately to be by her side and take care of her. The country singer had to undergo surgery on her wrist to repair the damage, and that's as much as the public knew.
"I'll be alright...might just take some time...glad I've got the best hubby in the world to take care of me," Underwood wrote on Twitter.
"I just wanted let everyone know that I'm doing great," she wrote a couple days later. "Had surgery on my wrist yesterday & all went well...even though I'll be setting off airport metal detectors from now on...I'm so thankful for the doctors, nurses, family & friends who've been taking such great care of me."
But a little while after her fall, Underwood revealed there was more to the story than we knew.
"There is also another part of the story that I haven't been ready to talk about since I have still been living it and there has been much uncertainty as to how things will end up," Underwood wrote. "It's crazy how a freak random accident can change your life."
"In addition to breaking my wrist, I somehow managed to injure my face as well. I'll spare you the gruesome details, but when I came out of surgery the night of my fall, the doctor told [Underwood's husband] Mike that he had put between 40 and 50 stitches in," she added.
"I am determined to make 2018 amazing and I want to share things with you along the way," Underwood concluded. "And when I am ready to get in front of a camera, I want you all to understand why I might look a bit different."
This left fans wondering just how bad the accident was. For the singer to announce she'll look different the next time fans saw her, everyone assume it was going to be some serious damage.
The first photo of Underwood post-accident emerged in December 2017, Adrienne Gang, a TV personality on Bravo, bumped into Underwood during a workout. The two took a selfie together. According to Gang, she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
"I had no clue she was injured!" Gang wrote on Twitter. "She looked amazing!"
One Twitter user asked if Underwood was perhaps wearing heavy makeup, but Gang denied it.
"Not that I noticed," she wrote. "She looked great!"
Fans began wondering if Underwood was overstating her injuries.
"Then why is she being cryptic about looking different? Confused," one commented.
However, a lot of others pointed out that the angle doesn't show Underwood's whole face. Fans were left to speculate and wait for the country singer to reveal the "damage" herself.
At the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 15th, the Underwood did just that, and it left fans...well, it left them confused.
Underwood took the stage to perform her new single "Cry Pretty," which she released just a week ago. The singer revealed that she would be performing at the awards show, marking her first public appearance since the accident.
Hey everybody,I just wanted to say hello and share some updates with you all...lots of exciting stuff happening!First off, physically, I'm doing pretty darn good these days! My wrist is almost back to normal, about 90% there...and the docs say that last 10% will come in time. And my face has been healing pretty nicely as well. I definitely feel more like myself than I have in a while. One of the silver linings for me in this healing process is the time I've gotten to spend with Mike and Isaiah. I've been calling it "forced relaxation."[...]
The first single is a song I love so much and can't wait to share with you. It's called "Cry Pretty" and I wrote it with three incredible women: Hillary Lindsey, Liz Rose, and Lori McKenna, who also write under the name Love Junkies. I joined one of their writing sessions last year to see if we could come up with some magic...and we did! The title refers to when emotions take over and you just can't hold them back. It really speaks to a lot of things that have happened in the past year and I hope when you hear it, you can relate those feelings to those times in your life. It's emotional. It's real. And it ROCKS! It comes out TOMORROW at 6am ET, and I'm so excited I'll be performing it live on the ACM Awards this weekend, so I hope you'll all tune in to see it!
When Underwood took the stage, everyone was ready to see a different face. What they saw was pretty similar to the face before.
After all this build up for a "different" looking face, Underwood sure looks like the same old country singer. Of course, this isn't a bad thing. No one was HOPING to see a horribly disfigured face, that would be awful or her. But it just seemed weird that after a six month absence from the public eye, there was nothing noticeably different.
But that doesn't mean Underwood's return wasn't emotional. The singer received a 30-second standing ovation from the audience after returning to the stage for the first time in half a year. Underwood looked uncomfortable after her performance, not flashing that million-dollar smile we're all used to. She even admitted that she was nervous.
"Thank you for having me...I'm still kind of like...shaking right now. Thank you," she said after the performance.
Underwood didn't walk the red carpet and wasn't spotted in the audience after the performance, so it's likely that she's still trying to slowly work her way back into the spotlight. Her husband, who is currently in Colorado for the Stanley Cup playoffs, tweeted his praise after the peromance.
Fans took to social media after the show as well, wondering why there was so much secrecy about Underwood's face.
"Is it just me or Carrie Underwood doesn't look ANY different? So ..what's with the big hoopla about her face "looking different" after her fall? #ACMAwards," one user said.
"I see absolutely nothing wrong with Carrie Underwood's face. Gorgeous! #ACMawards," another user said.
"Wait. I think I see it. No, that's a mole. Wait, THERE it is. Oops. That's glitter. Adore you Carrie Underwood, but your face looks the same. You killed it tonight, but why all the secrecy? If you have a scar, show it off! Inspire young girls to be proud of the skin they're in," one user suggested.
As for me, I still think Underwood looks amazing. If she feels as though she's changed, then who are we to disagree with that? I can only hope that she returns to the confidence she once had, and this performance seems to have been a great starting point.