Carrie Underwood is returning to her roots at the singing competition show “American Idol,” but not as a competitor, this time as a judge.
On Wednesday, Feb. 12, Underwood was spotted at Disney’s Aulani Resort and Spa in Hawaii, shooting scenes for the show’s 25th season. She wore a bright ensemble featuring a lime green dress with a lei around her neck. She also had a flower placed in her hair. Despite how dazzling she looked, fans noticed something about her facial features looked unfamiliar.
One person in the comments of the Daily Mail’s article wrote, “What happened to her face? Ratty looking wig too.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 31: Carrie Underwood performs during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025 held in Times Square on December 31, 2024 in New York, New York. (Photo by Craig T Fruchtman/WireImage)
Another commenter wrote, “She looks like a cartoon character now.”
A third insinuated that she may have gotten cosmetic surgery done. “Once a natural beauty, now a swollen shinny plastic face.”
The eight-time Grammy award-winning singer has been the target of plastic surgery allegations from fans for some time and has caught wind of the chatter among fans who think she went under the knife. In 2018, she did an interview with Redbook magazine, where she addressed the speculation.
She said, “It’s a little sad because the truth is just as interesting. 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.”
Nearly a year before the interview, Underwood endured a nasty fall on the steps outside of her home in Nashville. The singer was doing her daily dog mom duties by walking the dogs when she suddenly tripped. The fall resulted in multiple injuries, including a broken wrist and cuts in her face.
Underwood’s accident resulted in her having surgery on her wrist and 40 to 50 stitches on her face.
Despite fan speculation, she has not openly admitted to getting cosmetic work done.
However, in 2024, California-based plastic surgeon Dr. Daniel Barrett shared on TikTok what cosmetic work he speculated Underwood had gotten. He showed a three-photo collage of Underwood from the early 2000s and then shared a three-photo collage of more recent photos.
He said, “If you look at the nose, there’s a slight bit more of a swoop and pinched tip, which could indicate a possible rhinoplasty.” But the lips were a dead giveaway for the doctor that Underwood tweaked her looks a bit.
“Lips for sure, in my opinion, look like they’ve had some work done,” Dr. Barrett said. Lastly, he speculated that she may have had filler in her cheeks.
While all of this is mere speculation, fans are convinced that she is not all natural these days.
Still independent.
We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.
Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.
The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.
We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.
If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.