Carrie Underwood is trying to ignore
the backlash from some fans over her recent endorsement of equal
marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples in an interview with the
UK's The Independent.
In the interview, the 29-year-old
Underwood, who won American Idol in 2005, made a strong
statement in support of equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian
couples.
“As a married person myself, I don't
know what it's like to be told I can't marry somebody I love and want
to marry,” the country music star said. “I can't imagine how
that must feel. I definitely think we should all have the right to
love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love.”
Underwood, a devout Christian who was
raised Baptist but worships with her husband in a non-denominational
church, added that her church is “gay friendly.”
Some fans criticized Underwood for
speaking up in favor of gay nuptials.
In an interview with the AP in London,
Underwood said she had not read online reactions from fans.
“I was asked a difficult question in
the last five minutes of an interview and I answered it the best way
I knew how, and after that I do what I do and I love making music and
I generally try to stay out of any kind of controversy,” Underwood
said.
“The role-model word is really scary
to me, because no matter what happens in your life, something you do,
wear, sing, whatever – somebody somewhere is probably not going to
like it too well,” she added. “I just really try hard to do what
I do and try to be nice to people and make great music and if people
think they can look up to that, that's wonderful. If not, that's OK
too.”
(Related: Carrie
Underwood gay marriage support draws cheers, jeers.)