Why Did Carrie Underwood's Lips Look So Different At The ACM Awards?

Carrie Underwood has come a long way since her American Idol days. Following her iconic win on the hit singing competition show in 2005, the Oklahoma native catapulted into country music stardom almost immediately. Underwood has consistently churned out No.1 hits throughout her career and appeared on the Hot 200 and Hot 100 charts multiple times, per Billboard. At the 2020 American Music Awards on Sept. 16, 2020, she tied for entertainer of the year with Thomas Rhett, but, alas, some ACM viewers wanted to focus on Underwood's looks instead of her music.

That's right, some of Underwood's more than 18 million followers across her social media accounts began discussing her seemingly different lip shape at the ACM Awards. "What has Carrie Underwood done to her lips?" one person tweeted. Another wrote, "She can sing. But damn too much BOTOX in her lips. Good grief." Woah, hold on a second. The more important issue to discuss is the music emerging from those lips, but if you must know, there may be a reasonable explanation for the supposed change in Underwood's appearance.

For those who don't know, Carrie Underwood suffered a "freak accident" in 2018. According to Life & Style, Underwood "had taken a hard fall down the stairs outside her Nashville home" which resulted in a broken wrist and upwards of 40 to 50 stitches. The "Before He Cheats" singer told her fan club members, according to the Capital Gazette, "Even though I've had the best people helping me, I'm still healing and not looking quite the same. When I am ready to get in front of a camera, I want you all to understand why I might look a bit different." 

When Underwood returned to the spotlight, her face appeared as flawless as ever. New York plastic surgeon Dr. David Shafer gave Life & Style insight into the potential procedures Underwood might have done to achieve the look, explaining, "There are many ways to improve scars to help smooth the contour, blend the color and reduce shadowing. At my office, we treat scars with laser, microneedling, topical treatments, injecting medications and using dermal filler to smooth the contour."

Of course, we can't really know what (or if any) procedure happened until Underwood speaks for herself. In the meantime, instead of investigating her AMC Awards look (pictured), fans can focus their attention on her incredible music and career.

After her accident, which left Carrie Underwood with facial stitches and a broken wrist, the country star spoke about the experience and subsequent rumors in an interview with Redbook published in August 2018. Underwood explained that immediately after her accident, she had no idea how her face was going to heal. "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," Underwood admitted.

But she realized that she was being her own worst critic and commented, "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." This may be partially true. However, when you're Carrie Underwood, people still look and comment, so much so that she had to address plastic surgery rumors following her accident. According to USA Today, people even accused her of using her accident as a cover-up for plastic surgery.

But the country star shut these rumors down. "I'm on some magazine every other week for something crazy," Underwood explained to Redbook. "It's a little sad... 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." Instead, Underwood used the accident to share a message of confidence with her fans. Here's what she had to say.

After Carrie Underwood's accident, she had to accept the fact that her face might not look the same after it healed. To make the situation even harder, she had to let go of online speculation, vehemently shutting down plastic surgery claims. So, when asked how she would encourage her fans to grow in their own confidence, Underwood's message was totally relatable. "The first thing I would tell them is that we're all insecure; that's just called being human," she said in her 2018 interview with Redbook.

"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. Honestly, you just do the best you can. Don't worry about things you can't change," Underwood added. Her message of self-love in the midst of insecurity proved useful again after she had her second son, Jacob, in January 2019, according to PopSugar.

Underwood jumped on Instagram in March of that year and shared her postpartum body struggles. "I've been pretty hard on myself lately," Underwood admitted, noting she couldn't run as far or lift as much as she used to. But she ended with a note of resilience. "I'm going to take it day by day, smile at the girl in the mirror, and work out because I love this body and all it has done and will continue to do!"

That sounds like an inspirational and worthwhile message of self-acceptance!