We Can Stop Wondering About Carrie Underwood’s Face Now

Singer Carrie Underwood performed her new song “Cry Pretty” at the Academy of Country Music Awards last night—which doesn’t sound like breaking news until you consider that it was her first time in the spotlight since she took a serious fall last November.

And it wasn’t just any fall: The pop star broke her wrist, got cuts, and did enough damage to her face that it merited stitches. In a post to members of her fan club, she described the extent of her injuries: “In addition to breaking my wrist, I somehow managed to injure my face as well. I’ll spare you the gruesome details, but when I came out of surgery, the night of my fall, the doctor told Mike [her husband] that he had put between 40 and 50 stitches in.” She followed up several weeks later, writing: “When I am ready to get in front of a camera, I want you all to understand why I might look a bit different.”

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It’s pretty clear from both her performance and an accompanying preshow selfie she posted that her face isn’t all that different. But that’s not the point. Because in spite of this, people are losing it over the state of her face. Headlines call her postsurgery performance a “powerful return,” and one in particular offers a “complete guide” to what they call the enduring mystery of what happened to her face. And, naturally, Twitter is alive with the sound of people sharing their opinions on the matter.

Trying to find what's wrong with Carrie's face like… #ACMawards #ACMawards carrie underwood pic.twitter.com/is8dGwIWZn

— Brandon Bartlett (@bbartlett316) April 16, 2018

https://twitter.com/JenniferZemlock/status/985703051297218561

Carrie Underwood injures her face and looks even more gorgeous after stitches. If that's how stitches work then BRB, going to fall 100x in a row. #ACMAwards

— Sassafras Hargrove (@AmandaHargrove1) April 16, 2018

The obsession over Carrie Underwood looking "perfect" after needing 40 stitches in her face is gross. Accidents happen! Scars happen! And life, if you're lucky, goes on.

Signed, woman who's needed more than a dozen stitches in her face. https://t.co/SYhKRLy99b

— Rebecca Ruiz (@rebecca_ruiz) April 16, 2018

Can we all stop talking about @carrieunderwood’s face now? It’s still beautiful and, more importantly, she still belts it out with the best of em. #crypretty #ACMawards

— Coti Howell (@CotiHowell) April 16, 2018

Annoyed by all this talk about #CarrieUnderwood’s appearance and negativity projected onto her for the lack of a “gruesome” face. Just because we’re fans of hers, doesn’t mean we know her life. Her scars could be emotional and her own trauma shouldn’t be stigmatized. #ACMawards

— Tania Hussain (@westlifebunny) April 16, 2018

Still can't figure out what is "wrong" with #CarrieUnderwood's face? Can I please have her "new" face, if she wants the old one back?

— Ivana Hrynkiw Shatara (@IvanaSuzette) April 16, 2018

As someone whose history with Underwood spans 717 plays of “Before He Cheats,” I’m in no place to speculate why she would preemptively share the news of her facial injuries. But it does seem plausible—and understandable—that it may have been to prepare her fans (and curious onlookers) in the event that she did look different. That’s the prevailing theory on Twitter, at least. Imagine the speculation if she just showed up to the ACM Awards with a slightly different face and zero explanation. (Already, one commenter on a post surmised that she had an “upper lip lift.”) There would be a Twitter thread about it by now.

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It’s a uniquely female thing to have to endure the constant scrutiny of your body, clothing choices, and face on a day-to-day basis, and even more so when you’re a successful pop star. (Don’t believe us? There aren’t as many, if any, sensationalist stories tracking the history of Miles Teller’s facial scars, Harrison Ford’s chin scars, or Owen Wilson’s busted nose—nor “guides” about them.) Furthermore, this was the result of what Underwood herself called a “freak accident”—and despite the very real and painful-sounding injuries she sustained, everyone is primarily concerned with her supposed “disfigurement.” Translation: Whether or not she’s feeling okay comes secondary to what her face looks like. (To wit: There wasn’t a single article about how good her wrist looks. I mean, really, it did such a great job holding the microphone.)

So here’s the real mystery: Why do we care so much about Carrie Underwood’s face? We should just be grateful that, if her performance was any indication, the accident didn’t harm her vocal cords.

Related Stories:
-Watch Carrie Underwood’s Emotional Performance of ‘Cry Pretty’ at 2018 ACM Awards
-Having a Scar in Public Isn’t ‘Brave’
-Jameela Jamil: Talking About Body Positivity Means We’re Still Focusing Too Much on Our Looks