In a new interview with Redbook magazine, Carrie Underwood explains why she feels stronger than ever after a tumultuous year. The country music icon spent 2017 out of the spotlight to work on writing and recording her new album Cry Pretty. Towards the end of the year, though, Carrie revealed she suffered a severe facial injury while out walking her dogs. She had to get 40 stitches after hitting her face on a step during the fall. Worried that she wouldn't look the same, Carrie shared the news with her fans during her recovery.
For many of her fans, what followed was nothing short of obsession over what Carrie's face would look like when it healed. When it did heal, though, and she looked pretty much exactly the same, Carrie had to ward off rumors that the whole thing was a publicity stunt or a cover up for plastic surgery.
While it was tough to deal with, everything that happened ended up contributing to a "soul searching year" for Carrie. She said:
There were some personal things that happened. And I had the accident and all of that to get through ... and just life. Life is full of ups and downs, and I might have had a few more downs than ups last year.
Carrie concedes that her decision to share the news in a blog post where she warned fans "she may not look the same," definitely came from a place of insecurity following her injury.
Any time someone gets injured, it looks pretty bad in the beginning, and you're like, "What is this going to wind up like?" You just don't know. It was also a perception thing, because I look at myself [now] and I see it quite a bit, but other people are like, "I wouldn't have even noticed." Nobody else looks at you as much as you think they do. Nobody notices as much as you think they will, so that's been nice to learn.
As for those pesky plastic surgery rumors? Carrie isn't sweating those either. She's focusing on the important things in her life instead of all the negative press swirling around.
I'm on some magazine every other week for something crazy. It's a little sad, because the truth is just as interesting I wish I'd gotten some awesome plastic surgery to make this [scar] look better. But I try not to worry too much about it. My mom will be like, "Did you see they are saying this about you?" And I'll be like, "Mama, I don't care. I'm just trying to raise my son and live my life."
There's no doubt that Carrie has been through it over the past few years. During her interview, though, she gave some advice on how people can deal with hard times and shaken confidence. "We're all insecure; that's just called being human. I feel like the most important thing to realize is that even people who seem to be super confident have insecurities that they are dealing with," the 35-year-old singer said. "Honestly, you just do the best you can. Don't worry about things you can't change."