Carrie Underwood has been meting out photos and details since she suffered an injury last November which required 40-50 stitches to her face. She’s been extremely controlling of her image to the point of sharing only faraway photos and photos of half her face. Some people find that tedious and it’s clear that she’s gradually coming back into the spotlight on her terms, which is her prerogative. It’s got to be difficult to suffer a disfiguring accident as a public figure. Emily Yahr at The Washington Post did a timeline of Carrie’s injury reveal which cracked me up a few times. Yahr writes of one of Underwood’s Instagram photos “this will become important later” as we learn more about the singer’s injuries.
The last time we reported on Carrie she had shared a photo of herself on stage rehearsing, her face barely visible. If you squinted, you could see a scar under her eye. She also posted a teaser for something, I assumed it was an interview, with just a photo of her eye with glitter dripping from it and the date and time “This Wednesday, April 11. 6am ET.” I assumed that would be an interview, but it was the premiere date for her new single, “Cry Pretty,” which came out this morning on the radio and with a lyric video. I’m rolling my eyes at that, but a lot of pop stars tease their single releases. If Taylor Swift did that we would have 2-3 more steps to the process.
In the meantime Carrie posted an announcement of the fact that she’s performing on Sunday, at the ACM Awards. She revealed this in a long update on her fansite stating that she’s healing well and that she’s excited for her new album. (She included a couple of paragraphs about her husband’s hockey team, The Predators, and a song she did with Ludacris that came out earlier this year, “The Champion,” but I’m cutting that part.)
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.” Sometimes I think things happen in order to make us slow down. It also means I’ve been home to support my favorite hockey player coming out of retirement…
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!
Needless to say, I am beyond excited for this new album and everything that comes with it…more on that soon. Of course, we’re already talking about a tour, but that’s a blog for another day! Thank you all so much for your love and support this year and always. I feel it and I appreciate it. And I can’t wait to start this new chapter with you!
That’s a lot of words to say a few things (I cut a lot in the excerpt) but at least Carrie writes clearly and with enthusiasm. She’s not saying things in a roundabout pseudo-intellectual way like other celebrities (Katherine Heigl). Like so many of you, I was getting a bit tired of Carrie’s now-you-see-me routine, but it’s how she’s chosen to handle a tough setback. Plus “Cry Pretty” is really good! I started listening to it thinking I would turn it off, but it pulled me in and I got goosebumps. I’m not even that into Carrie’s genre of country pop but this is a powerful song. NPR has a nice analysis of how “Cry Pretty” is a metaphor for what she’s gone through and how she’s expected to keep up her image no matter what. It’s an anthem for women who aren’t allowed to let the cracks show. I’ll watch her performance on Sunday and when this song comes on the radio I’ll listen to it.
photos credit: WENN
She’s a good looking woman to begin with, how bad could she look with some scars? Most scars fade away.
I’ve had a scar on my face since I was 2, I’m 38 now. It required 40 stitches at the time. It’s still noticeable, I still have complete strangers ask about it.
It’s not about how bad she looks, it’s about how she feels. A scar like that, on your face where everybody can see it all the time is really life-changing and can be traumatising. ‘Revealing’ it to the public must seem very daunting for her and minimising how it has impacted on her doesn’t help her, or anybody who has to deal with a facial disfigurement.
Can you see her scar? Unlike Carrie, I’m assuming you didn’t have access to plastic surgery, surgical dermatologist or the most up to date beauty serums? Like in the grand scheme of things how much has that minor scar impacted your happiness, ability to work or care for your family?
When I was 2 years old, I fell on glass. My parents thought I would lose sight in my right eye.
I have a 2.5″ inch scar below my eye that angles out to the lower part of my ear. The scar also travels up about an inch on my eye lid but it’s not noticeable. When I was 16 my parents asked if I wanted the scar removed and I said “no.” The scar has been a part of me for life. It’s my scar and I’m keeping it. It never affected my looks and I’ve remained pretty damned hot even as I age.
Yeah … no … I don’t have any self esteem issues, either.
LOL.
Her and Jamie Lynn Spears good be related.
I tweeted she was milking this for her new album drop and a stranger replied “STFU Bro” I’m not a guy and it’s amazing how some people are unhinged in their celebrity worship
I’ll never stop thinking that the face things happened at some other time than the fall that resulted in a broken wrist. She’s just been too shady about everything. Surely as image conscious as she clearly is, if this had happened because of the fall then she would have announced it right away. I mean, why in the world wait a month or so to announce she had gotten this injury from her fall? I’ll forever believe she freaked out about some unexpected plastic surgery results.
This screams plastic surgery to me which is odd if it isn’t. You fall, you convalesce and then you reappear saying “thank god it’s over”. The sideways photos are there to tease curiosity so my second guess is that she’s using this for promotion. Even I – who do not know her music and aren’t American – have given this dome thought.
In my “old school” kind of thinking, I assume she’s not talented if she needs this much ado about….
Agreed! If she really were injured, wouldn’t she have posted the after photos showing the bandages, and then talked about the stages of healing? That’s what I would think she would have done, if it were true. The way she’s done the photo teasers and promoted her album at the same time, I think it’s either a PR stunt or plastic surgery gone wrong that is being used as a PR stunt now.
“Disfiguring accident” it was not, imo.
Where exactly is this hideous scar? For someone who had a “gruesome” accident, she looks remarkably like herself. I’ve looked closely at her photos and can see nothing.
I totally agree with you. It confuses me to see articles like this claiming that she’s had a “disfiguring accident” when she looks exactly the same so far as she did before.
I think peope who make their living off their image are so self conscious it’s harder on them when something happens to their face. It’s proof here in the comments. She is drug over the coals. Comments are made about plastic surgery, abuse and multiple other things that would make me hide the closet and become a recluse.
A few years ago my son had a nose bleed and I slipped on the blood and hit my chin on the bathtub. I had twelve stitches although it wasn’t a huge cut they use more to stitch up a cut on the face hoping to reduce scarring. I have a scar though and nerve damage. If it was near her lip or eye nerve damage may be an issue and she may be self conscious. I would be especially in her industry.
I think it has to be hard for anyone, but I agree, especially for someone who’s physical image is part of their career. She has photo shoots, album covers, music videos, televised appearances, etc to deal with, and a lot of focus on her.
I think dragging out the mystery has been kind of weird, but if it helps her deal with it, oh well.
I’m not a country fan but I think she’s talented, however that Champion song just about made my ears bleed. I was surprised to learn it was her singing.
I do agree on the dragging out the mystery being weird. The whole situation took a life of its own.
Yes her image is important to her as an entertainer BUT this whole drag out and suspicious EVERYTHING made things 100% worse.
Well I’m glad our national nightmare of the disfiguring scar is over. Thanks I’m sure to the plastic surgery that we all know she could afford. Yes women our only value is life is our beauty, rinse and repeat. As predicted it was to sell a product after all.
Meanwhile kids with actual disfiguring scars from cleft lips, cleft palates, mishappens heads and birth defects are going on about their business getting through life without drama.
What stood out to me was her comment about the injury forcing her to spend more time with her husband and child. I know, everyone is wired differently!! But I wonder if it is easier to be ambitious if you are less emotional.
My DH is a physician, and he brought up possible nerve damage. My brother has damage to one side of his face from a botched wisdom tooth removal. It droops slightly.