Photo: ABC
Carrie Underwood shared some insight into her life as a mother, including how she manages to keep her home life “grounded.”
Underwood and her fellow American Idol judges, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, appeared on The View on Tuesday (March 24). The trio talked about the newest season of Idol, including Underwood’s full circle journey from 2005 champion to a judge. The eight-time Grammy winner’s life changed completely when she left her hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma, and went on to become one of the most successful winners of all time. Now, Underwood lives outside of Nashville, Tennessee, raising two young sons with husband Mike Fisher. She and Fisher said “I do” in 2010. They’ve since welcomed sons Isaiah Michael, 11, and Jacob Bryan, 7.
“Carrie, you had a normal upbringing,” Abby Huntsman said on The View. “Your life completely changed, and you have kids, two kids now… I wonder how you keep things grounded at home, what rules you guys have, and also, would you ever let them do a young version of Idol at their age?”
Underwood, 43, went on to open up about her work-life balance, and how she feels about her children entering the spotlight.
“I mean, at home is home. I don’t bring work home with me, and it is the opposite of what I do everywhere else,” Underwood replied. “Being on stage and being at home, these are two different people, pretty much. And I love that because it’s like, they’ll come to shows and they’ll see me do what I do, and I feel that they’re proud. But then mom makes dinner. You know what I mean? I’m usually covered in dirt, or I have farm animals everywhere, or I’m covered in poop. Whatever it is, that’s mom. And I hope more than anything, that’s what they take away from me, and that’s what they remember about me. She was mom, and then every once in a while she’d go and get on stage and it was crazy.
“My oldest — they both can sing, but my oldest is super into his music. He’s mini me in so many ways. …He’s my mini me, but I don’t think I would — he would need to be older and more established in himself before I would give my blessing on getting in the music industry,” Underwood continued. “We’ve had young hopefuls come on the show that are like 14, and I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, baby. I look at you and I see my son, and I’m going to have to say no because you’re good, and in like, six years you’re going to be awesome and you’re going to be mature enough to be able to handle it.’”
American Idol airs on ABC on Monday nights from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET/PT. It’s available to stream the next day on Hulu. Watch the full interview on The View below.
Bryan is part of the star-studded lineup of the 2026 iHeartCountry Festival. The show also includes Carly Pearce, Kane Brown, Parker McCollum, Riley Green, Shaboozey, Dylan Scott, Russell Dickerson, Gretchen Wilson, Chase Matthew and Lauren Alaina. iHeartRadio's Bobby Bones is returning as the event’s host. The show will take place on May 2 at Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Tickets to the show are available as of January 23. Fans across the country will be able to catch all the action as the 2026 iHeartCountry Festival will be broadcast live across iHeartCountry stations nationwide and the free iHeartRadio app on Saturday, May 2nd at 8pm ET/5pm PT (7pm CT).