Carrie Underwood Receives Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Carrie Underwood is the latest celebrity to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! The 34-year-old singer was inducted on Thursday, Sept. 20, with a star right outside of Capitol Records and made the event a family affair.

“How is this my life? Immediately she starts crying. Write that in all the articles,” Underwood joked through tears. “How does a girl from Checotah, Oklahoma end up with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? I will tell you how. Believe. I have been so blessed in my life with those who have believed in me. I was so blessed to be born into an incredible family who’s here today. My mom and dad would take me to talent shows and want me to sing everywhere … driving me to places, taking me to sing places – just being incredibly encouraging. There was belief there.”

Underwood went on to thank others who have been part of her journey, before thanking her husband, Mike Fisher.

“And then I met an incredible man, Mike, who thinks I’m so much better than I actually am in every way. Thank you for believing in me as a human, and as a wife and as a mom. He believes in me.”

Underwood also acknowledged her 3-year-old son, Isaiah, who was in the audience.

“Isaiah Michael, I love you so much,” gushed the singer. “You’re the best thing we ever did. The best thing. I love you. I’m proud of you, and I believe in you, too.”

“This is absolutely amazing and a dream come true,” Underwood concluded. “Thank you for believing in me – fans, family, friends, the incredible people I get to work with. That’s how this happens. Belief.”

Underwood’s former American Idol judge Simon Cowell and Brad Paisley were both on hand to honor Underwood as well.

“I have never felt so hungover in my life,” Cowell quipped, sharing that he partied a little too hard at the after-party for the season finale of America’s Got Talent the previous evening. “30 seconds ago I was remembering that moment in 2004, St. Louis. We were having the worst American Idol season I have ever had in my life … The whole show was in what I call gray and white. It was nothing. And then this shy lady comes in and sings ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me,’ and the show turned into full color at that point.”

Underwood, who went on to win Season 4 of the reality TV talent show, was the singer Cowell predicted would be the most successful of any of the contestants.

“I think it was after you sang ‘Alone’ that I made the prediction that you would become the best-selling Idol winner, which you are,” he said. “But i could never have anticipated how successful you’ve been and the way that you’ve done it. it’s absolutely phenomenal.”

“Carrie Underwood, I love you,” Cowell concluded. “And you are a total, total star.”

Paisley also had kind words for his longtime friend, both as an artist and a human being.

“I believe that some things are just meant to be … No one could have possibly known how talented she was in so many ways,” Paisley said. “It’s one thing to have a great voice. it’s another thing to captivate all of America on a TV show like [American Idol]. But that’s just the beginning of this amazing person.”

“Carrie Underwood is in many ways the person the world looks at as Miss Country Music,” Paisley continued, comparing Underwood to country music icon Dolly Parton. “I just don’t think we could ask for a better ambassador, a better person.”

Paisley will join Underwood on Nov. 14 to co-host the CMA Awards for the 11th year – just one of the many ways Paisley says Underwood shows off her diverse talents.

“[She is] someone who I get the luxury and honor of standing next to every year and hosting an awards show. I don’t think there’s anything you can’t do.”

Growing up in the small town of Checotah, Oklahoma, Underwood never imagined that she would one day have her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“I never thought in a million years that I would have the opportunity to even attend the CMAs or Grammys, or go visit the Walk of Fame, let alone participate in any of that,” Underwood told Variety. “Where I was from, and in my life, that just wasn’t something that was achievable. My first time on an airplane was coming out to Los Angeles when I was 21 to go to the Hollywood round of American Idol.

“They were nice enough to take us to some of the touristy places, and I got to see some of the stars on Hollywood Boulevard and take pictures with them,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Man, as soon as they kick me off, at least I’ve been to L.A.’”

Underwood’s latest album, Cry Pretty, was just released. Purchase the record at her official website, Carrie Underwood.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Steve Granitz