The Untold Truth About Carrie Underwood's Mom, Carole

When Carrie Underwood rocketed to stardom after being crowned champion of the fourth season of "American Idol," she didn't do it on her own. At the time, viewers may not have realized that the aspiring young vocalist had a secret weapon in her corner, offering unconditional love, unwavering support, and endless inspiration at every step of the way: her mother, Carole Underwood. Of course, her hard-fought victory also came about thanks to the millions of viewers who voted for her, along with the support of the show's judges — Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and especially Simon Cowell, who's long had an uncanny ability to spot future stars. 

While it's certainly true that there have been "American Idol" winners who didn't get the success they expected, that has certainly not been the case for Underwood. After "Idol," she went on to rack up umpteen hits before coming full circle to serve as an "Idol" judge herself in 2024, when she joined the show that launched her career. Meanwhile, as Underwood's fame has grown over the years, so too has the public exposure of her mother. No shrinking violet, Carole has demonstrated that she shares her daughter's tendency to thrive in the spotlight, becoming something of a celebrity in her own right. She's been her daughter's biggest fan since childhood — and that has never changed. 

When delving into the untold truth of Carrie Underwood, it's clear that her journey began in the small community of Checotah, Oklahoma. It was there she was raised in the family farm owned by her parents, Carole and Stephen Underwood.

Her parents' relationship has been an enduring one. That hit home in 2018 when the couple marked a major milestone by commemorating a half-century as spouses. "Today, we celebrated my parents' 50th anniversary," Underwood wrote in a Facebook post honoring the occasion. "We listened to stories of how they met and their first years together...the good Lord sure did bless them...and us!" 

In that post, Underwood also shared several photos, including one of her parents slicing into a cake, and another featuring them sharing a kiss. "I think these crazy kids are gonna make it!" she jokingly added. Meanwhile, it's clear that her parents' long and flourishing marriage been an inspiration for Underwood's own relationship, evident when taking a look inside her relationship with husband Mike Fisher.

Looking back at her first appearance on the show that made her a star, it's fair to say that Carrie Underwood is nearly unrecognizable in her "American Idol" audition before her rise to fame. However, that fateful audition, now a cornerstone of "American Idol" history, almost didn't happen. 

As Underwood told Guideposts, when she first learned that "Idol" was trying out singers for its fourth season, the closest audition to her home was in St. Louis. Getting there would require some effort — a lengthy drive of about six or seven hours. She immediately abandoned the idea, thinking that would be far too long a journey. She was ready to set aside her dream, until her mother nonchalantly offered to take her to St. Louis. "Just like that," Underwood recalled.

They made the trip, driving all night and changing into fresh clothes in a gas station bathroom before joining the long lineup of wannabe singers waiting for an opportunity to audition for the star-making TV show. "When it came her time to step up there she said, 'I'm not gonna sing that song. I'm gonna sing a country music song,'" Carole told KTUL News. When Carrie stood before the three judges, she informed them she would be singing Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me," and earned a golden ticket to Hollywood — none of which would have happened had her mom not volunteered to undertake that long drive. 

Once Carrie Underwood made it to Los Angeles for the Hollywood rounds as one of the finalists on the fourth season of "American Idol," she found herself thrown into an unfamiliar environment that was worlds away from what she'd known in Oklahoma. It was clear she was well out of her element when she was interviewed by "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest soon after arriving in Los Angeles. Asked by Seacrest whether she'd seen any stars, she admitted she hadn't — and her naïveté was on display when she explained why. "It's been pretty cloudy," she observed, assuming Seacrest had been referring to celestial objects, not celebrities.

The season progressed, and Underwood fell into the routine of the show as the competition heated up and singers began being sent home. To describe that period as stressful would be an understatement. Yet as nerve-racking as it may have been for the aspiring young singer, it was likely even more so for her mom. "I learned to dread Tuesdays and hate Wednesdays because Tuesdays were the performance nights and Wednesdays were the vote off nights," Carole Underwood told KTUL News. 

When appearing on "Today," Carole recalled her anxiety on those performance nights, praying that her daughter would hit all the right notes and make it through to the following week. "It was just too harrowing for me," she said. "And I'm sure it was for her, too."

Carrie Underwood is the youngest of three sisters, with a significant age gap between her and her older siblings. "I was the accident — so I have the only-child syndrome going on," Underwood explained in an interview with Marie Claire. When her older sisters left home, she was alone with her parents, which led mother and daughter to form an exceptionally tight bond. "By the time Carrie was big enough to be her own person, Shanna was already gone from the house and Stephanie went to college, so Carrie was kind of like an only child because she was so much younger," Carole Underwood said during an interview with "Today."

These days, Carrie remains close with her mom and her older sisters, so much so that all four of the Underwood women got matching tattoos — in a Las Vegas tattoo parlor, no less. Getting inked, she wrote in an Instagram post documenting their adventure, had been her mom's idea. "When your 74-year-old mother asks you and your sisters to get matching tattoos with her in Vegas, the only questions are, 'what?' and 'where?'" she wrote in the caption to the pic she shared, of all four women showing off their identical tats. "I never would've thought I'd see the day that Mama Carole would be gettin' some ink!" she added.

Long before "American Idol" beckoned, Carrie Underwood competed in small, local talent competitions, gaining valuable experience at singing onstage in front of an audience. That was yet another skill she owed to her mother, Carole Underwood, who encouraged a friend at the local chamber of commerce to let her daughter sing in the shows the friend was responsible for putting on. 

Using her connections wasn't the only way in which Carole contributed to her daughter's early experiences competing in talent shows. She also made the outfits that the youngster wore while performing. "When you're in little talent shows and you're singing country music, you have to be all sparkly ... so I would get material and I would make her costumes," Carole said during when interviewed for "Today."

Her daughter concurred, recalling all the times she would watch her mom busily sewing together those outfits — which were hardly lavish affairs. Carrie recalled in when interviewed fo SiriusXM, "I remember we got a pair of boots at the dollar store, for a dollar, and she built this whole outfit, like sparkles and sequins and all this stuff."

Before Carrie Underwood's meteoric rise to fame, her mother Carole spent a quarter-century as an elementary school teacher. In fact, Carrie is the only one of her three siblings who didn't go on to pursue teaching as a career. Both of her older sisters, Stephanie Shelton and Shanna Means, followed in their mom's footsteps to become teachers themselves. 

Her mother's profession clearly made an impression on her. In 2009, she became involved in a campaign for TeachersCount, a nonprofit devoted to recognizing and rewarding America's teachers.  The theme of the campaign was "Behind Every Famous Person Is a Fabulous Teacher," which partnered celebrities with teachers. In Underwood's case, she appeared alongside her sisters and mother. "Teaching was something that ran in my family," she told The Oklahoman. "I have always admired my mother and sisters for making a difference in the lives of so many."

When Carrie Underwood recorded her 2010 track "Mama's Song," there was no mistaking the inspiration behind it. The song's lyrics make it crystal clear that "Mama's Song" is a heartfelt tribute to her mother, Carole Underwood, recognizing the deep influence she's continually had on her daughter throughout her life. "'Mama's Song' definitely reflects my mom and [my] relationship, and hopefully a lot of moms and daughters can relate to this, too," Carrie said in an interview for her label, Sony Music.

That was even more clear when the music video for the single was released, in which Carole played a major role. Appearing in the video's opening moments, she's seen leafing through a scrapbook containing photos from various stages in her daughter's life. "You just don't think where your child is small that in just a few years it's gonna be completely different," Carole says at the video's start. "And you look back and say, 'Where did that time go?'" 

Beyond honoring her mom, "Mama's Song" also contributed to Carrie's burgeoning career at that time. Not only did the song hit No. 2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart (and peaking at No. 56 on the Hot 100), it also garnered her a Grammy nomination.

There have been numerous cases of celebrities gifting their mothers elaborate, expensive items, including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson buying his mom a new house, and Lebron James presenting his mother with a shiny new Mercedes-Benz. 

That, however, hasn't been the case when it comes to Carrie Underwood and her mom. "I try, but they won't let me," Underwood explained when appearing on SiriuxXM, asked by host Jenny McCarthy whether she'd been able to treat her parents.

As Underwood pointed out, her parents have no interest in a new house, preferring to remain in the same domicile in which they have always lived. In fact, any attempts at making even the smallest purchase for them have been rebuffed. As an example, she recalled the time she learned that her dad wanted a new generator. "It was $400," she recalled. However, when her mom and dad learned she was planning to present them with the gift, they balked. "I got in trouble," she said, remembering how her parents refused to accept even that modest gift.

One reason why Carrie Underwood's fans have become so familiar with her mom Carole is that mother and daughter frequently appear together in public. That was certainly the case in her early days of music stardom, when she would often be accompanied by Carole as her plus-one at award shows.

"I take my mom places. My mom loves going to award shows," she said while appearing on SiriusXM. "But she's a bit of a loose cannon." 

For example, one time when mother and daughter attended the CMA Awards together, her mom became so overcome with excitement at seeing so many country music celebrities in one place that she went AWOL. "I lost her," she said, recalling her panic in trying to figure out where her mom had gone during an after-party — only to find her in conversation with Kid Rock. "I'm like ... no good can come from this," Underwood joked. "She's so cute, and she just loves ... seeing everybody."

Not only has Carrie Underwood invited mom Carole to join her on award show red carpets and appear in her music videos, she's also brought her mother onstage to perform with her in concert. That was the case in 2019 during the singers Cry Pretty tour, when she brought Carole onstage during a performance of "The Champion" during a show in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  

Carole didn't sing, however, but performed the song's rap, which had been originally delivered in the song by Ludacris. Carrie later shared video of the magical mommy-daughter moment on Instagram. "Nailed it!" Carrie wrote in the caption, adding, "Who knew mom could rap?" She followed that Instagram post with another, this one showing her working with her team to prepare them for what to expect when her mom took to the stage (she joked that she expected her mom's arm movements to mimic "air traffic control"). In that video, shot ahead of the performance, Carole admitted she was feeling the pressure. "I don't know if I'm gonna have fun ... I'm gonna be scared," she said, but excitedly added, "But I've been practicing!"

That wasn't the only time that mother and daughter have rocked out together in concert. A few years later, Carole joined Carrie during her Las Vegas residency, with the two teaming up for a duet on "All-American Girl."

Remembering Carrie Underwood's childhood, her mom Carole told "Today" that there was always something about the innate talent her daughter displayed whenever she opened her mouth to sing. "She just truly had a gift from God," she recalled.

Yet despite knowing how well she could sing, when Carrie received her golden ticket, Carole admitted she didn't initially envision her daughter actually winning "American Idol," or that her exposure on the hit singing competition would change her life to the degree that it ultimately did. At the time, Carole's expectations were far more modest, simply hoping that her daughter's exposure on network television could grant her a certain degree of celebrity when she returned to Oklahoma. "We never even considered that she could win it at all," Carole told "Today," "but at least maybe she could have some face and name recognition, and she would get to be an anchor or something on one of our local TV shows in Tulsa."

It wasn't until she stuck around episode after episode that Carole really began considering the notion that her daughter could become the next American Idol. "It didn't really dawn on me at that particular moment what was possibly going to happen," Carole remembered. "Up to this time, it was just a competition. She won, and then my next thought [was] 'Well, we're do we go from here?' You know? 'I don't know how to do anything about any of this.'"

While the stunning transformation of Carrie Underwood has taken her from Oklahoma youngster to music superstar, her mom Carole Underwood has been along for the ride, experiencing her daughter's journey on every step along the way. Watching a child skyrocket to fame would be a strange experience for any parent, equal parts exciting and unsettling. However, if there's one thing that Carole has consistently demonstrated over the years, it's that she's never particularly impressed by the trappings of fame."You don't realize that celebrities truly are just people," Carole told "Today." "They wash their clothes. They fold their clothes. You know? I just don't want her to change how she is, and I think she doesn't."

Now that Carrie has been an internationally famous celebrity for 20 years and counting, Carole no longer sees her daughter's stardom with the dazzle it once held after that first blush of fame. Back then, she'd rush out to buy any magazine that had even the tiniest mention of Carrie; as time went on, however, and her stardom exploded, Carole lost the urge to keep up. "And now it's like, 'I'm not gonna spend my money on that!'" she quipped.