In an emotional interview, Christian singer Carrie Underwood known for hits including ‘Jesus, take the wheel,’ has revealed she suffered three miscarriages in the last two years.
The star told CBS News on Sunday she reached her lowest point earlier this year when it seemed she might have a fourth.
She decided to snuggle for a while with her son, Isaiah, 3. She describes sobbing as she prayed like she’d never prayed before. She asked God why he kept allowing her to get pregnant only to lose the baby. She begged him to “shut the door” if he didn’t want her to have another child.
She explained: “For the first time, I feel like I actually told God how I felt.
Underwood prayed that desperate prayer on a Saturday night. On Monday, she went to the doctor to verify she had had another miscarriage. To her surprise, the doctor told her everything was all right.
“He heard me,” Underwood said through tears as she recalled the desperate prayer she prayed.
She added, “not that he didn’t hear me before…” The singer is chalking this child up to God’s answer to prayer.
The star is now expecting a second child.
Before revealing her struggles with fertility, Underwood had faced criticism for suggesting she was too old to have children naturally, CCN reports.
In an interview with Redbook, Underwood said: “I’m 35, so we may have missed our chance to have a big family. We always talk about adoption and about doing it when our child or children are a little older.”
Many fans applauded her openness but some felt she was misguided.
“You need to know your window for having children is not closed,” wrote one Twitter user. “You can still have healthy children. 35 is not old, 35 is not too late, 35 is fine.”
“I totally get it,” said a fan on Facebook. “We have gone back and forth about trying again and 35 was my cut off age. But now I’m 35, I’m thinking about it. I feel the clock ticking like I’m sure she does.”
Underwood announced her pregnancy shortly after the interview was published; and proudly showed off her baby bump during a surprise performance on Keith Urban’s US tour on 24 August.
She recently had to cancel two UK appearances, at Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park and the Long Road festival, due to illness.
The star released a new album, Cry Pretty, last Friday and told CBS the title track had been inspired by her tough 2017, which also included a nasty fall that left her needing more than 40 stitches on her face and surgery for a broken wrist.
“I would literally have these horrible things going on in my life, and then have to go smile and, like, do some interviews or, like, do a photo shoot or something, you know? So it [songwriting] was just kind of, like, therapeutic, I guess,” she explained.
The BBC contributed to this report.
