Carrie Underwood is the country star who won “American Idol” in 2005 and later headlined her own show in Las Vegas. Long before all that, she was the baby of the family in Checotah, Oklahoma.
Her mom, Carole, has described Checotah as the kind of small town where everybody knows everybody. Carole taught elementary school for 25 years. Carrie’s dad, Stephen, worked at a paper mill.
Carrie has two sisters, Shanna and Stephanie, and they’re a good bit older than she is. “Carrie was kind of like an only child because she was so much younger,” Carole told TODAY in 2021.
So Carole had plenty of one-on-one time with her youngest. And it sounds like she noticed something early.
Carole sat down with TODAY to talk about the little girl she raised, and the way she describes Carrie’s voice is worth hearing in her own words.
Carrie’s mom talks about raising a future star
It was Carole who got a nervous Carrie to try out for “American Idol” in the first place. Carrie has said she was busy talking herself out of it when her mom spoke up: “If you wanna go, I’ll take you.” Carrie wrote on Instagram in March 2022 that those words “might have been the most pivotal words anyone has ever spoken to me.”
The two have stayed close, on stage and off. On March 26, 2022, Carole walked out during one of Carrie’s Las Vegas shows to sing “All-American Girl” with her.
A fan filmed the whole duet from the crowd, so you can see for yourself how a retired schoolteacher handles a Vegas stage next to her famous daughter.
Carole joins Carrie on stage in Las Vegas
Clearly Carole isn’t shy. Still, her girls didn’t see the next one coming.
In early July 2023, Carrie had just finished a run of her “Reflection: The Las Vegas Residency” shows at Resorts World Las Vegas. Her mom and both sisters were in town for it.
That’s when Carole, at 74, asked her three daughters to get matching tattoos with her.
Carrie shared the photos on Instagram on Sunday, July 2, 2023. Her caption started with “When your 74-year-old mother asks you and your sisters to get matching tattoos with her in Vegas,” and finished the thought with “the only questions are, ‘what?’ and ‘where?'”
Las Vegas tattoo artist Darek Riley did all four, and Carrie thanked him in her post. They each got a small heart, which Good Morning America described as an infinity heart. Carrie’s is on the top of her right foot. Carole got hers on her right wrist, and Shanna and Stephanie put theirs on their wrists.
Even Carrie sounded amazed. “I never would’ve thought I’d see the day that Mama Carole would be gettin’ some ink!” she wrote. She tagged it #WhatHappensInVegas.
Nobody filmed the tattoo itself, but the four women and their new hearts are right there in Carrie’s Instagram photos.
And if you’re wondering whether Carole has surprised a crowd before, Access Hollywood caught her rapping “The Champion” on stage.
Carrie’s mom takes the mic
Not bad for a woman who spent a quarter of a century in an elementary school classroom.
So the next time Carrie posts a barefoot photo, check the top of her right foot. Her mom’s heart is easier to spot. It’s right there on her wrist.