Carrie Underwood: Fame, Family and Secret Struggles at the Cost of A-List Stardom

Everything happened so fast. While taking her dogs out, Carrie Underwood tripped and fell on the steps outside her home nearly seven years ago, sustaining injuries so “gruesome,” she later said, she needed more than 40 stitches in her face as well as surgery to place a plate and pins in her mangled wrist. The Oklahoma-born beauty was terrified she would look “different” and plagued with “much uncertainty as to how things [would] end up,” she admitted. “It’s crazy how a freak random accident can change your life.”

Her physical scars healed — but the ordeal marked a turning point for the country music icon. Her marriage to hockey player Mike Fisher was being tested during that period, sources have told Life & Style. And Carrie was also secretly struggling to cope as she suffered three heartbreaking miscarriages in two years, later confessing that when she finally talked about it in 2018, it felt like a “weight lifted off my shoulders.” For all her fame and success, the private challenges threatened to break the eight-time Grammy winner. “She’s told friends she feels that everything that’s happened in her life has contributed to making her stronger. In many ways, her fall was the catalyst because it made her stop and realize that things could change in the blink of an eye,” a source exclusively tells Life & Style, adding that these days, “Carrie doesn’t take anything for granted.”

Inside Carie Underwood’s Marriage to Husband Mike Fisher

High on the list of things she’s not taking for granted? Her marriage. Carrie, 41, and Mike, 43, are in a better place today as they prepare to celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary this summer, says the source, citing “their shared Christian faith” for helping them work through their issues. “They had their share of struggles behind closed doors, specifically when Mike was still playing hockey and they were having a hard time balancing their careers and home life,” explains the source. “But there were still rough patches after his [2018] retirement, too.”

They were often leading separate lives, with the American Idol alum focused on motherhood, recording and touring and Mike busy traveling, hunting or working on the Catchin’ Deers apparel line he started with some friends. Now, says the source, “when they feel frustrated with each other or like they aren’t as connected as they could be, they make it a point to slow down, prioritize their marriage and meet in the middle.”

They’ve also figured out how to better share parenting duties. Last year, Carrie gushed that Mike’s “very hands-on” with their boys, Isaiah, 9, and Jacob, 5, and is “very willing to pick up the slack when I’m crazy busy,” which means they’re “very much switching off duties as far as taking the boys here and there to school and sports and to all the extracurricular activities.” “I just love that,” she added. “I feel like we’re such a great team.”

Carrie Underwood’s Diet and Fitness Routine

Mike’s also supported her through other personal issues. “Mike wasn’t happy about Carrie obsessing over her appearance because it affected her physical and mental health,” says a second insider. “He basically staged an intervention.”

Which Celebrity Had the Most Inspiring Weight Loss Transformation?

Carrie’s admitted she used to focus on the wrong things: Early in her career, she sometimes ate just 800 calories a day while increasing her gym sessions. “Your body is screaming out, ‘I need more calories, I need more carbs!’ ” she realized. At this point, instead of working out and dieting to be a certain size, she eats and exercises for energy, strength and longevity. “My self-care is my gym time,” Carrie — who’s no longer a vegan—recently said, calling it “a stress reliever.”

Though Carrie is someone who thrives with order and structure — “I love rules,” she’s admitted — she’s learned to live more in the moment, as well. Last summer, for example, she joined her mom and sisters to get matching heart tattoos together in Las Vegas. “Carrie attributes her longevity in show-biz to her strong foundation of faith and family,” says the source, but she also “always says, ‘I count my blessings because you don’t know what’s gonna happen next,’ when it comes to her career or personal life. She just tries to stay present and grateful."