Carrie Underwood’s Allure cover profile in the February issue of Allure is pretty good. I’m saying that as someone who has a someone who doesn’t have much of an opinion on Carrie – I think she seems like a Mean Girl and a diva, but I’ve also heard that she’s professional, a hard worker and she’s very no-nonsense. It could be that she’s just a blunt, no-BS person, in which case… good for her. Anyway, in the Allure story, Carrie talks about her love of the Lord and how she supports gay marriage, and how she’s kind of pissed that Hayden Panettiere claimed that she used Carrie as an inspiration for her role in Nashville. Some highlights:
Carrie says Hayden Panettiere’s character on Nashville isn’t her: “I’m not like that at all. It’s juicy, but I hope not everybody thinks that everything goes down like that in Nashville, and we’re evil.”
Carie says the real Nashville scene has less drama: “To be honest. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with other types of music — and we’re the least drama-rific people.”
Carrie on gay marriage: “I’m in favor of acceptance. And I am a Christian person, and I do love the Lord, and I feel no matter who you are, what you believe, how you live your life, it’s not my place to judge. I don’t have that power. I don’t want that power. It’s my place to love and to show God’s love to other people, even if they don’t live a life like I live. So that’s where I’m coming from.”
Having a career and a husband: “My mom had a job, and she also took care of us, and she also took care of Dad—I always saw her pulling triple duty, doing more than I ever felt like she needed to. I made a promise to myself that it would be more of a team effort in my family someday,” she explained. “And because of that, I became more independent. But it was tough figuring out what kind of guy would work with what I did. Because you have your problems with both.”
Finding Prince Charming: “We want that person to be everything we’ve always wanted. If they’re not Prince Charming, we try to make them Prince Charming. But Prince Charming does exist! I found one.”
Being married to a professional athlete: “We’ve seen a lot of celebrities, professional athletes, not exactly always being on their best behavior away from girlfriends, wives, families,” she says. But she’s not concerned about her husband, Mike Fisher. “People would say, ‘Do you ever worry that—you know—he’s an athlete, he’s young, he’s good-looking?’ And I’ve never had to worry about him,” she continues, “because I’ve never trusted anybody so completely. Or I didn’t know the true meaning of trust. He just…he just wouldn’t do that.”
Carrie’s speech about acceptance is what it is – she used different language back in June of last year and she was slammed by a lot of her Christian (I was going to put that in passive-aggressive quotes, but I stopped myself) fans who didn’t like that Carrie’s faith was a faith of inclusion, tolerance and love. I think Carrie sounds kind of defensive here, but it’s good to remember how many country fans were all “OMG I HATE HER NOW” after her she publicly supported gay marriage.
Also: Carrie has a lot of confidence in her husband and her marriage, right? I mean… that’s a good thing, I guess. She trusts him. And he’s never given her a reason to NOT trust him, right? Still… I’m always wary when someone is like “He would never do that, I trust him so much” etc.
Photos courtesy of Allure.
I don’t get a nice person vibe from Carrie – AT ALL – but I respect her opinion on this. She is from a conservative area and works in a conservative business, so I appreciate her putting this out there.
Let’s face it she is bitch from hell. Allegedly. Whatever. Here is the thing now I know why she always look like prom queen from Honey Boo Boo Town. She doesn’t have any sassy gay friend who would say – “Guuurlll. Please!!!”
I must’ve missed something huge – because how does she give off a horrible person vibe? She seems like a regular Nashvillian and we’re nice people. 🙂
lol, in my book you win the internets today, Maggie!!
@gg: you got that right! 🙂
I like the way she worded her answer. She is not afraid of talking about her religious beliefs without being an entitled judgemental goody two shoes…cough…I’ve stumbled in that aree…dang it! I like Carrie a great deal because she seems truely professional and respectful. She comes across as a very sound minded and tactful lady, which is such a RARITY these days in that field!!! I don’t doubt she may have her diva fits but I give her credit for not reducing herself to tabloid fodder and using the oh so abused “I’m faking my coming out as lesbian or bi to be liked and get attention” schtick.
I’m not a big fan of people who take a bad or a potentially bad thing and just spin it into good. There’s only so much ground you can cover with that approach.
I wonder what she things about war, hunger, aids, politic, birth control, abortion… and a huge number of other hard topics. Gay marriage is a convenient enough topic to spin positive cause nobody dies if they are not married.
At least the anti-gay marriage people are being consistent about their (IMO stupid) beliefs.
I’ve heard she’s quite the diva but I agree with her stance on this completely.
Mike Fisher has such a solid, good guy reputation here in Nashville. He does a lot of charity work and is very religious. Nothing I have heard from those who know him would say her trust is misplaced.
He had the same reputation in Ottawa for many years. Everyone who has met or knows him thinks he’s a stand-up guy.
Agreed. I’m also from Ottawa, and it would shock me to the core if Mike Fisher was anything other than a completely honest, honourable man. He has a fantastic reputation here, and I believe he’s 100% the real deal. She’s one lucky lady!!
Strange, I was convinced that the ‘mean girl’ character was inspired by Taylor Swift.
I got into Nashville over the holidays. Hayden says her character isn’t Taylor Swift but COME it’s so obvious. She’s a teen sensation who plays admittedly crappy music.
I think its a combination of them both. Carrie for the bitch side, and Taylor for the tweener part. I don’t think either of them are saints. I volunteered at a country/western fest here in TX and they were both there. I wasn’t close enough to meet either one, but I did get close enough to know they weren’t real nice.
I’ve met Carrie several times and she is a genuinely nice and kind lady.
Everyone has an off day and maybe a reporter or whoever it was, caught her at a bad time and that’s where this diva thing came from. I just don’t see it.
Being a hard worker and focused on your career doesn’t automatically make you a diva or a bitch.
I think people need to cut her some slack.
I get the impression that many religious people in the US struggle with this because they do want to believe in what their churches tell them (or what they think the Bible says) but they also see that a lot of it goes against what they see in their environment. They meet openly LGBTQ people and none of the stereotypes apply. I’d love it if we could stop with the “I don’t judge, it’s God’s place” because there’s an implication that just maybe they will all end up in hell after all.
But I can’t be upset over this. She seems to have given this some thought and let’s not forget, at the end of the day, she wants to appeal to as many people as possible. This seems like a good way. Some of her fans worry me though.
The winds are definitely changing. Churches have stopped putting crosses in/on their buildings so as not to exclude people. Christian exclusionism is coming to an end as the old generations and dogmas are fading and kids that have gone to school with openly gay classmates grow up and start their own families. It is about love, not hate. More people are updating their beliefs and what I see has been a change for the better.
I took the “it’s not my place to judge…” comment that it’s not her place to decide if something is right or wrong. And I completely agree.
She shifts the judging responsibility to her god which, as a non religious person, I can tell you sounds incredibly like: “I don’t really have to bother thinking this through because: god”.
When she excludes herself from the “is it moral or not” debate, she by default judges, even if she says otherwise.
@sasa If she’d just left it at not judging then I might agree with you but, she replaced that judging responsibility with a responsibility to love and accept and to show her God’s love to everybody. I think that makes for a more affirmative statement than just “it’s not my place to judge.” Especially in context with her original comments, where she talked about how she attends a gay-friendly church and doesn’t want to be represented by people who use the Bible for hate.
I did go back and forth on it but honestly, to me it still sounds like she’s covering her bases and I feel like many religious people do that. If you don’t judge, you don’t judge and there is no need to mention that judgment is still an option. Do they believe that their God loves LGBTQ people like he loves everyone else? Then there is no need to add “I’ll leave that up to God.” You only amend an “I don’t judge.” statement if you think God might not actually love everyone equally. Of course you can argue that she’s simply stating she doesn’t know. But really, what do you “know” when it comes to faith? Nothing. Otherwise it wouldn’t be called faith. You believe in a God that loves everyone equally or you don’t. I honestly think she’s trying to mollify some of her fans.
I know it’s nitpicking but to me, it makes a difference.
what flutters said.
Some people just can’t win whatever they say. I see comments here that are essentially doing exactly what they accuse her of doing which she’s not doing – reading hate and judgment into everything possible. Baloney.
@Flutters
But if I don’t believe in her god what difference does her god’s love make for me? Zero. If she had said that she believes in spreading human love then I would agree with your point. IMO she is being more evasive then tolerant. Just like with the infidelity question, she completely evades the possibility.
@gg
If you’re so keen on unconditional tolerance you’ve just ruined it with perpetuating the judgment circle. My opinion is that judging is a little too socially demonized and I freely admit to judging people en route to forming an opinion. Hopefully it leads me to a place of better understanding and acceptance.
@ gg: I think you’re being a little harsh. Nobody was reading hate into her comments, I don’t think she’s hateful at all. I do think, however, that she’s super careful about what she says and I can’t help but feel like she’s pandering a bit as well. Leaving a small door open, so to speak. I’m not judging but hey, can’t be sure God doesn’t judge. I’m happy she doesn’t judge, I just wish people wouldn’t qualify statements like these. Like I said, nitpicking, maybe. But … this is not a site where people come to just be supportive of celebrities, is it?
sasa, all I did was name what I see here, sorry you saw yourself in my comment. A lot of religious people do judge heavily and see their faith as a “right” to do so; I disagree with that. But I don’t think she is one of them.
My point is I don’t think she has a bunch of agendas in her statement. That is all.
@sasa Carrie said “It’s my place to love and to show God’s love to other people, even if they don’t live a life like I live. So that’s where I’m coming from.”
So even if you are not interested in her showing her God’s love to you, she feels it is her place to love even if you don’t live a life like she does. She did allow for human love as a separate point from God’s love and believes her place is to show both. I don’t see that as evasive, I see it as open.
Thanks for explaining your point of view. I didn’t interpret the quote as her separating human love from god’s love and I’m still not convinced it is clear that is what she meant. I more got the sanctimonious “I will love you in the name of a loving god even if you reject his existence because I’m a better person than you are”.
I do admit I could be wrong with my interpretation but it is what it is, differing opinions.
@sasa OK I see where you’re coming from now, thanks for explaining. It’s just different interpretations, as you said.
I think mine may be influenced by her original comments, which you can read here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/carrie-underwood-us-country-queen-speaks-out-for-gay-marriage–but-how-will-conservative-fans-take-it-7831956.html
I can see where even those wouldn’t definitively address your concerns though. Her comments were in the context of discussing LGBT people, and I haven’t seen where she’s addressed atheists and agnostics. I can understand why you might not be comfortable with her views as stated.
Flutters, you’re right that these are two different topics- one in reference to LGBT people and the other to atheists/agnostics. Where the topics meet though is in the fact that LGBT folks are mostly not church going Christians (for reasons obvious, see: Bible, if needed).
Carrie is talking about spreading the church going Christian love which is not applicable to the majority of LGBTs, at least those outside the closet.
I give her credit for forming her own opinion on this and sticking to it, even if it gets her backlash from some. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, but I wish that more people saw it as she does, love and don’t judge.
I just hid an old high school friends Facebook posts- she is a born again Christian constantly posting about her faith but also posts things slamming the poor/struggling and those who try to help change things for them. It is in such conflict from actual Christian teachings that I could stand the hypocrisy anymore!
Yesss@lucy2.I was brought up bible thumping.My mother had us in church at least 4 times a week.Then I grew up,got a mind of my own,and realized that the Bible makes no sense,has been altered and changed….I’ll stop.But I have friends on Facebook that shove Jesus stuff on my feed ALL day,and most of it is condescending.I had to block the ignorance…(going to hide)
Does anyone else think this photoshoot looks like “Glamour Shots” circa 1992? Especially the black and white photo!
Good for Carrie Underwood for sticking to her guns on her gay marriage stance. I agree she sounds a little defensive but at least she isn’t backing down and she made the point that needs to be made about the compatibility of Christian faith with support of marriage equality. People need to worry about themselves and not how other consenting, unrelated adults are living their lives. She goes a step further in stating her openness to sharing God’s love with everybody.
Hayden Panettiere always said she studied Carrie Underwood’s stage presence and nothing else so it seems like some quotes are being twisted around here. Hayden also had to assure people she wasn’t basing her character on Taylor Swift.
Being from Nashville and now in New York, here’s what I’ve heard about Carrie: professional, polite, quiet & reserved to a fault, but friendly and funny once she’s gotten to know a person.
As far as her trust comment, is it really anything unusual? I feel like you’d have to be at that level of trust to marry a person. And if she’s asked about it, what is she supposed to say?
The last time I trusted someone so completely I was made a fool of.I absolutely trust my husband now,but not to the point where I have blinders on.When your in love of course you think ” he’d NEVER”..,, 🙁 Hope she is right.I don’t listen to her music,but she was the one and only person I voted for for Idol.pretty girl,pretty voice.
Her hair looks so terrible in all of these shots- that is all i can think of. It looks like straw or old lady trying to be young hair. Yech.
Yes, i also get the mean girl vibe with her. I’m not religious, but I did grow up in that background. Judgement and intolerance seemed to be a very common theme. Being gay was about the worse thing that could happen to you. I have even seen parents disown their own children. Its so sad and heartbreaking. I have a very bad taste in my mouth when it comes to religon. I do understand that i shouldnt lump all christians together. I do understand that there is always going to be a few bad apples. But, growing up in a evangelical household, it was really tough. Love is love, there should never be any judgement for finding someone who respects and loves you fully. Equal rights for everyone and live your life with integrity is my motto.
Clapping ^^
Sorry, I just don’t see it. She’s always seemed perfectly nice and professional to me. But perhaps that’s because the temptation to compare her to Swifty is so large.
All the same, it’s time to stop hating people just for being pretty, blonde and talented.
Props to that, TQB.
Her husband is still young. When he gets older and more vulnerable as his looks disappear, we’ll see what, if any, stupid shenanigans he gets into to boost his ego.
All people have issues with aging, but men can act out in the stupidest ways. Then again so can Demi. Ah well
I think her make up looks stunning. Much better than the heavy stuff she usually wears. I know Lainey says she’s a bitch, but I see her more as a type A personality. Maybe a bit of a control freak.
And she’s right, it’s not her place to judge, though the implication in her statement is that she does not approve.
I myself am a student of science and I don’t believe in religion. But I feel that at times, religion causes more separation, inequality and strife than it does good. And that makes me sad. No one should be hurt, judged against or isolated in the name of religion.
Re: Carrie’s makeup…you took the words right outta my mouth! Carrie usually favors very heavy black eyeliner and thick mascara (and probably false eyelashes). I realize she’s still wearing makeup here, but her lighter more natural look really complements her appearance.
Couldn’t agree more – wish this girl would realize she looks so much better in this style of makeup as opposed to the false eyelashes and heavy liner she normally favors.
Now that you mention it, I recall wondering who spackled her old timey makeup on the last few times I’ve seen her.
The cover does not look like her.
Like some other folks posting comments, I get an “off” vibe from Carrie. She seems like she’d be awfully nice to people she’s dealing with “officially” but probably wouldn’t have the time of day for regular people. Nice voice, but I don’t like her music at all.
I grew up Catholic and now identify as a progressive Christian. Maybe it was because I grew up knowing gay people but homosexuality was never considered a sin in my family. Judging a person, condemning and abusing them because of who their sexuality goes against Christ’s teachings in my eyes.
I’m no fan of Carrie’s, but I think this is probably the best way she could answer that question. It is better to come off as ignorant and let some god do the judging than it is to interpret and spew ancient hate and fear. It’s not like she can dissent as a country star, she has to appeal to Christians–they’re her livelihood.
I wish more Christians I know acted like this. At least she’s taking the Christ-like route.
Lots of us have husbands/boyfriends who haven’t cheated on us and we trust them implicitly and know they never will. People who have been cheated on like to think that everybody cheats, but they just don’t. If Carrie found a good guy, and it sounds like she has, then good for her and I hope they’re very happy.
I have never heard complaints about her from people who actually know her. It’s all from bloggers (like Lainey who seems out to get her). She hosted that country awards show a million times which suggests she’s pleasant to work with.
She works hard, her answers seem fair to me, and I don’t ever hear about her out boozing, fooling around, going w/o underwear, etc. All good things in my book.
I tend to agree with you. Those country awards shows are always hosted by people that everybody likes, your Brad Paisleys, your Vince Gills. You don’t hear a lot about some a-hole country star hosting the CMA’s.
I love Carrie Underwood. It took a lot of guts to reveal how she feels about gay marriage. It took massive courage to tell the world that gay people have the same right to marriage as straight people do. Carrie gets lots of credits from me because a big chunk of her fans are bible-thumping, brain-washed bigots. She deserves a medal of honor.
“… Bible thumping, brain- washed bigots”? It sounds like you’ve had a negative experience with a Christian and are now judging and stereotyping all of us. That’s not really fair.
I loved her answer. I’m always disgusted when “Christians” get on a platform and start spouting off their judgements of various things that offend their bible learning. The first thing I think is that they don’t read it too closely as Jesus clearly says not to judge. That’s something that someone who has truly had an experience with the spiritual learns first. Don’t judge. It’s no substitute for love, and that’s the highest commandment–to love one another. Hard to do when you are judging and sticking your self righteous nose in the air.
She has really softpedaled back on what she said before. It’s kind of a disappointment. She did come out stronger before in absolutely supporting gay marriage but in a nice way. I wish she just wouldn’t have said anything and said I’ve already addressed my beliefs. This answer is like she’s caving to the criticism and couching it in I’m not judging terms.
I will say I think it’s refreshing that she doesn’t have giant bolt-on boobs like everybody else.
I feel the same way. It’s not my place to judge anyone on their life choices. God in my eyes judges your deeds and not who you have sex with.
Also I wish people would stop letting fake Christians shape how they see the rest of us. And by fake Christians I mean those who claim to follow the word of God. But really spread hate and think they are better than everyone else.
I honestly don’t get it. If you trust your own morality so much that you can put yourself in a position to discern fake Christians from the real ones, why do you need god in the first place? Is he just decorative or does he actually influence the real world?
I honestly don’t get why you have such little respect for other posters’ personal belief systems when they aren’t hurting you, or anybody else. This is goading. Please stop.
She’s not a nice person. That’s all I’ll say. More like a mean girl/ice queen. Yuck.
Do you know something?