The internet loves to scrutinize celebrities, and pretty, popular stars like Carrie Underwood are some of the social media legion’s favorite targets. This was certainly the case following Underwood’s performance at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

In November 2017, Carrie Underwood suffered from a broken wrist and injuries to her face after she fell down the stairs at her home. The country megastar required surgery to fix her wrist and needed 40-50 stiches in her face. Underwood stayed largely out of the limelight for several months but posted a note on Instagram in January warning her fans about potential appearance changes resulting from her injury.

“I’ll spare you the gruesome details, but when I came out of surgery the night of my fall, the doctor told [my  husband,] Mike[,] that he had put between 40-50 stitches in,” Underwood wrote, “Now here we are 7 weeks later and, even though I’ve had the best people helping me, I’m still healing and not looking quite the same. I am determined to make 2018 amazing and I want to share things with you along the way. And when I am ready to get in front of a camera, I want you all to understand why I might look a bit different.”

Fans immediately began to take a morbid sort of glee in anticipating the damage to Underwood’s face. One Instagram user stated that they were “expecting [an] Al Capone scar” while others touted conspiracy theories that Underwood’s injury was nothing but a cover-up to hide her decision to get elective plastic surgery. Underwood later posted an image of the titanium plate embedded in her wrist, but the theories about a plastic surgery conspiracy continued.

With all the hype surrounding the potential damage to Underwood’s face, fans were glued to her performance at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Underwood’s performance earned her a massive standing ovation, and she looked as beautiful as ever. Ironically, fans were not ecstatic about the recovery of their idol. Instead, they felt cheated and angered by the fact that Underwood was not disfigured.

Plenty of Twitter reactions betrayed fans’ bizarre desire for Underwood to have suffered irreversible damage.

“It literally makes me sick that Carrie Underwood made such a big deal about her face needing stitches,” said Casey Bradley.

“I am a little disappointed in all the hype Carrie Underwood gave up about her face and how it’s going to look different. She looks the same to me in every way.” said Becky.

Thankfully, some fans of Underwood were happy to see that the mother and singer had recovered fully.

“The obsession over Carrie Underwood looking ‘perfect’ after needing 40 stitches in  her face is gross,” said Rebecca Ruiz.

“Annoyed by all this talk about #CarrieUnderwood’s appearance and negativity projected onto her for the lack of a ‘gruesome’ face…her own trauma shouldn’t be stigmatized,” said Tania Hussain.

Some have decried the obsession with Underwood’s scars, or lack thereof, as sexist, while others have pointed out that this sort of imagined betrayal on the part of fans is common with any celebrity. Either way, Underwood’s return to the stage is a welcome event for most country music fans, and her refusal to get caught up in the negativity and morbid fascination with her injury is admirable regardless of what the social media scrutinizers say.

The internet loves to scrutinize celebrities, and pretty, popular stars like Carrie Underwood are some of the social media legion’s favorite targets. This was certainly the case following Underwood’s performance at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

In November 2017, Carrie Underwood suffered from a broken wrist and injuries to her face after she fell down the stairs at her home. The country megastar required surgery to fix her wrist and needed 40-50 stiches in her face. Underwood stayed largely out of the limelight for several months but posted a note on Instagram in January warning her fans about potential appearance changes resulting from her injury.

“I’ll spare you the gruesome details, but when I came out of surgery the night of my fall, the doctor told [my  husband,] Mike[,] that he had put between 40-50 stitches in,” Underwood wrote, “Now here we are 7 weeks later and, even though I’ve had the best people helping me, I’m still healing and not looking quite the same. I am determined to make 2018 amazing and I want to share thing with you along the way. And when I am ready to get in front of a camera, I want you all to understand why I might look a bit different.”

Fan immediately began to take a morbid sort of glee in anticipating the damage to Underwood’s face. One Instagram user stated that they were “expecting [an] Al Capone scar” while others touted conspiracy theories that Underwood’s injury was nothing but a cover-up to hide her decision to get elective plastic surgery. Underwood later posted an image of the titanium plate embedded in her wrist, but the theories about a plastic surgery conspiracy continued.

With all the hype surrounding the potential damage to Underwood’s face, fans were glued to her performance at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Underwood’s performance earned her a massive standing ovation, and she looked as beautiful as ever. Ironically, fans were not ecstatic about the recovery of their idol. Instead, they felt cheated and angered by the fact that Underwood was not disfigured.

Plenty of Twitter reactions betrayed fans’ bizarre desire for Underwood to have suffered irreversible damage.

“It literally makes me sick that Carrie Underwood made such a big deal about her face needing stitches,” said Casey Bradley.

“I am a little disappointed in all the hype Carrie Underwood gave up about her face and how it’s going to look different. She looks the same to me in every way.” said Becky.

Thankfully, some fans of Underwood were happy to see that the mother and singer had recovered fully.

“The obsession over Carrie Underwood looking ‘perfect’ after needing 40 stitches in  her face is gross,” said Rebecca Ruiz.

“Annoyed by all this talk about #CarrieUnderwood’s appearance and negativity projected onto her for the lack of a ‘gruesome’ face…her own trauma shouldn’t be stigmatized,” said Tania Hussain.

Some have decried the obsession with Underwood’s scars, or lack thereof, as sexist, while others have pointed out that this sort of imagined betrayal on the part of fans is common with any celebrity. Either way, Underwood’s return to the stage is a welcome event for most country music fans, and her refusal to get caught up in the negativity and morbid fascination with her injury is admirable regardless of what the social media scrutinizers say.