All You Need to Know About: Carrie Underwood in Vancouver
Not only is Carrie Underwood the most successful American Idol winner ever—and yes, that means she has outsold even Kelly Clarkson—but she is also one of the most popular female solo artists in country-music history. Hell, she once even made The Hockey News's list of the 100 most powerful and influential figures in ice hockey. Fittingly, she's currently headlining hockey rinks like Rogers Arena, where she performs tonight in support of her latest album, Cry Pretty.
HOCKEY WIFE Underwood legally changed her name when she married former NHL player Mike Fisher. That technically makes her Carrie Fisher, but she still uses her birth name professionally, presumably so no one will mistake her for Princess Leia. Back in 2011, when the two lovebirds were still newlyweds, the Ottawa Senators accepted a deal that would see Fisher traded to the Nashville Predators so he could be closer to his wife. This apparently didn't sit well with Ottawa radio station 105.3 CISS-FM, which stated that it would ban the playing of Underwood’s music in protest of the trade. Saying that he and Underwood were disappointed by the negativity caused by the station's supposed ban, Fisher defended his bride, saying “obviously Carrie had nothing to do with the move or the trade or anything so to imply something like that was just wrong.” As it turns out, the joke was on him: CISS-FM is a pop station and had never played country queen Underwood's music in the first place.
SOMETHING EXTRA It's certainly not her main claim to fame at his point, but when Underwood first auditioned for American Idol in 2005, she revealed a certain physical peculiarity that she shares with a few other celebs (including Harry Styles, Tilda Swinton, and Lily Allen). When a creepily leering Simon Cowell asked the 21-year-old aspiring singer "Did you have something you shouldn't have had?", she confessed that she was born with a superfluous third nipple. "It really just looked like a mole," Underwood explained. "If I wore a two-piece bathing suit they would ask me what it was, and I said it was a birthmark, because it was, but I kind of got a little self-conscious about it, so I had it taken off." That's right, perverts—she had it surgically removed, so don't waste your time scouring the Internet in search of photographic evidence.
CORN-FED KRESKIN Obviously aiming for something more than being barefoot and pregnant in a trailer park by age 19, Fisher shot high when it came time to fill out her high-school yearbook questionnaire back in 2001. The singer, who attended school in small-town Checotah, Oklahoma, wrote "You were supposed to be saying what you would be doing in 10 years, and I said "'I will be rich, famous, and married to a hot guy.'" At least she hasn't forgotten where she comes from after all of that came true. Her C.A.T.S. Foundation (Checotah Animal, Town, and School Foundation), set up in 2009, funds student scholarships, animal shelter improvements, park improvements and other ventures in her hometown of 3,500.
SPORTS JUNKIE That Underwood ended up married to a professional athlete—as opposed to a drunken, pill-popping country music star—isn't overly shocking. The singer grew up a huge football, baseball, and basketball fan, playing the latter two when she wasn't busy on the cheerleading squad. As an adult she's never forgotten the way sports can have a positive impact on kids, mostly for getting them doing something other than playing NBA 2K18 for 10 hours of each 24 hour day. The singer launched her own fitness clothing line, CALIA, in 2015, stating she wanted to make it "easier for me and all other women to work in working out." To help the kids of American stay involved in sports, she teams up with Dick's Sporting Goods Foundation to help fund 100 girls sports teams across the States. And, by help, we're talking donations in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. If she doesn't have a sporting trophy named after her yet, that really needs to change. And, bringing things back to sports for a second, Fisher would seem to be one of those rare people who is pretty good at whatever they try. And that includes skating, which for those in the south, usually leads to looking like Bambi on ice followed by a trip to the emergency room. Watch while she and Fisher play stick and puck.
DOWN WITH PEOPLE The weird things about superstars is that we expect them to the same warm and sunny people they are onstage. As much as she's famous for helping out her fellow human beings, Underwood is, according to those close to her, someone who is perfectly happy being left alone. That presumably means you shouldn't be asking for a selfie with her while she's eating dinner, and you shouldn't bang on the toilet stall door to ask for an autograph. In a 2013 Marie Claire profile, her mom (a retired teacher) said, "She was never really a people person. She liked being outside with animals." Her best childhood friend meanwhile added "Carrie didn't let fame change her. She was never super-outgoing. And she doesn't feel the need to overcompensate now." Fisher herself told the The Orange Country Register, Carrie admits, “I have a dark side. Yes, it is evil. I can be very moody.” That puts a whole new spin on lyrics like "Not usually the kind to show my heart to the world" from "Cry Pretty'. So ask away if it's okay to invade her space should you spot her in Vancouver, but remember that you've been warned.
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