A Life in the Day: country singer Carrie Underwood on gender inequality, Bible study and being vegan
September 2 2018, 12:01am
Interview by Hannah Evans
The seven-time Grammy award-winning country singer, 35, shot to fame after winning the fourth series of American Idol in 2005. She has since sold more than 65m records, including Jesus Take the Wheel and Before He Cheats, making her the show’s most successful export. She now lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, Canadian former hockey player Mike Fisher, and their son, Isaiah, 3.
I wake up when my son does, which is usually around 6.30. I get him from his room, set him up on the couch and then let out my dogs, Ace and Penny. Breakfast is either granola or a tofu scramble. My son and husband eat meat, but I’m vegan. It’s a personal choice — I love animals. They’re all like dogs to me and I always rescue spiders and bugs. My husband joins us at the table and we’ll do our Bible study. I’m reading it in chronological order at the moment. If we’re at home on a Sunday, we’ll go to church.
Our house is a mess. I would love to be a neat freak, but between my husband and my son, it’s impossible.
The whole American Idol thing was a fluke. As a kid, I always wanted to be a famous country singer, but I’m a practical person and didn’t know if it was realistic so I went to college in Oklahoma to study mass communications. Then one day I saw on the news that people were sleeping outside waiting to audition for the show. I thought, ‘Why not? They’ll probably say no.’
Thirteen years later I’ve had number ones and collaborated with Dolly Parton, Randy Travis and Ludacris. I still get starstruck around someone like Dolly, and I’m sure that I cried all over Randy when I met him for the first time.
When I’m working, my husband looks after Isaiah or I’ll take him to daycare on my way to the studio. If I’m editing a song, I’ll go to my co-producer David Garcia’s house. We bounce ideas off each other and go through guitar parts, or I’ll sing. I usually make a smoothie for lunch and I always have vegan protein bars in my bag to keep me going.
I don’t have rules around using social media, but I do think there’s something scary about it. I wish kids would realise that what you put on there doesn’t go away. I think that’s something, as parents, we need to teach them. Saying that, it can be useful.
Last year I was letting the dogs out when I tripped and fell. I had 40 stitches in my face and broke my wrist. I didn’t want people who saw pictures of me to speculate [that I’d had plastic surgery], so I wanted to get ahead of it [by announcing it online].
It’s great that we’ve had so many conversations in the entertainment industry about gender inequality, but I don’t think we live in a post #MeToo world yet. We’ve got a long way to go. Look how many men there are in country music versus women. Have I had to work harder because I’m a woman? Maybe. But I like outworking people. Even if there wasn’t a gender bias I would do it anyway.
Dinner is at 7pm and I’ll roast veggies with rice, plus some meat for my husband and an alternative for me. I don’t like eating out. Our schedules are so crazy that when we’re not busy we just want to be at home in our sweatpants on the couch. Mike and I were set up. He came to a show in Toronto and I didn’t know if I wanted to see him one-on-one so I put him in the meet and greet. We ended up hanging out afterwards, and less than a year later we were engaged.
After I’ve put the little man to bed, we’ll watch something on Netflix. At the moment, it’s The Killing. I like to be in bed between 9pm and 10pm — not too late. My kid’s going to get up at 3am and want me to go in and sleep with him and, of course, I will.
Carrie Underwood’s new album, Cry Pretty, is out on September 14
WORDS OF WISDOM
- Best advice I was given Steven Tyler once told me that, when all is said and done, there’s just you and God
- Advice I’d give You have to be willing to work your tail off
- What I wish I’d known Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses
