14 DAY TRIAL // At 26, country singer and multi-Grammy winner artist Carrie Underwood can safely say she has come to know both the bright side and the downside to fame. She has struggled to become the multi-platinum artist she’s today and has also had the time to enjoy the good things in life, those very things they say only money can buy. In the latest issue of Esquire magazine, the singer opens up about what she’s learned from life so far.
Fans know that Carrie became famous as a contestant on the fourth season of American Idol. Since then, the blonde girl with a doll-like face has traveled a very long way, including being caught in a semi-media scandal over personal issues when one of her relationships went bust. She works hard to maintain her position at the top of the charts and to sell records and, because of that, she knows now that fame is definitely not the stuff that dreams are made of.
“I’ve learned the most throughout my life from age twenty-two till now. As you step off that stage, you’re pretty much alone. My cell phone is my best friend. It’s my lifeline to the outside world. There’s no handbook [to fame]. People can take your words and make them into something awful and something you never meant it to be. It’s hard to find normal celebrities. It’s hard to find people who don’t want something from you,” Underwood says. She then adds that the only one who doesn’t want anything from her is her dog – and no one can convince her otherwise.
Similarly, no one can convince her now that being famous equals living an enchanted life. “When people think of what it’s like to be famous, they think of the Ritz. But I’ve been in hotels where I will not take my shoes off. I will wear flip-flops in the shower. I’ve seen more basements of venues than I’ve seen of the United States. People think, Oh, you travel around, you get to see the country. I’ve seen basements, I’ve seen concrete, I’ve seen pillars,” the singer tells Esquire.
The only thing that makes up for the negative side to fame is being able to sing: when she gets up on stage and looks into the audience and sees people that are bursting with anticipation to hear her sing, Carrie Underwood can’t but pour her little heart into her song, she says. In time, she’s also come to learn that people will know if you don’t mean what you do, which is why she always makes it a point of being honest to her fans.