Carrie Underwood Addresses Social Media Criticism Directed at Her from American Idol Fans

American Idol’s Carrie Underwood Shares How She Navigates Social Media Criticism

Carrie Underwood exclusively shared with E! News her Joe Rogan-approved way of navigating hate online—and her advice to the current hopefuls on American Idol season 23.

Don’t expect to find Carrie Underwood crying pretty over online hate.

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After all, the American Idol judge lives by the motto “post and ghost,” freely sharing her life on social media but ignoring any negative comments that may come her way.

“I stole that from Joe Rogan,” Carrie exclusively told E! News. “It’s really important when you think about social media that you realize it’s not the real world.” (To see her full interview, tune in tonight, April 29, at 11 p.m.)

She continued, “It took me a long time to realize that, and a long time to be secure enough in myself to be like, ‘Do I care if somebody doesn’t like my hair today, or this thing I sang or how I sang it? I don’t.'”

Besides, the “Before He Cheats” singer noted, “I got a lot going on in my life.”

“I’m 42 years old. I’ve got two kids I’m trying to raise to be good humans,” said Carrie, who shares sons Isaiah, 10, and Jacob, 6, with husband Mike Fisher. “I’m just out there doing the best I can, so if I want to post something, I’m just going to do it and leave it there.”

And that’s the lesson she wants to impart on the current hopefuls on American Idol‘s 23rd season.

“I’ve had this conversation with lots of people over the years,” Carrie—who won the singing competition two decades ago—shared, explaining how she’s spoken to “lots of young artists” who get hung up on online backlash.

Carrie Underwood, American IdolDisney/Eric McCandless

Her advice? Take a step back and realize “everybody’s not saying that.”

Looking back at her own run on American Idol, Carrie felt “so naive” to the spotlight.

“Being on the show when I was 22 years old, every single week was like, ‘Do or die, now or never,'” she recalled. “I felt grateful that I even got the opportunity to get to be on the show, and I still feel like that now. I do get nervous for the hopefuls.”

Carrie added, “I do want everybody to win, but alas.”