Carrie Underwood's Mom Thought 'Idol' Would Help Her Become A TV Anchor

Carrie Underwood's family never imagined that she would reach superstar status.

In a new episode of TODAY's "Through Mom's Eyes," Carole Underwood spoke with Sheinelle Jones about helping her daughter rise to fame with eight studio album and over 100 major awards, including seven Grammys.

"I would call and say 'Can Carrie sing? Will you let Carrie sing on this one?'" Carole recalled of their early days making the local talent show rounds. "And, you know, she hated it, because her friends were going to be out there, and she didn't like to sing in front of her friends. And sometimes it was like — she might be crying before she would get up there to sing. But she did. ... She always did. She just truly had a gift from God."

At home, Underwood went on to develop her ear for country music when her older sisters, Shanna and Stephanie, would play it around the house. Carole said that her daughter continued on with local shows, but she never thought that she'd be able to take her talents to the limelight. In fact, the teenager decided to pursue a degree in mass communications and that was the reason Carole supported her decision to partake in American Idol. "We never even considered that she could win it at all, but at least maybe she could have some face and name recognition, and she would get to be an anchor or something on one of our local TV shows in Tulsa," she confessed.

Underwood went on to reign supreme during the fourth season of the long-running FOX singing competition and it was that moment that Carole had a bit of a reality check. "It didn't really dawn on me at that particular moment what was possibly going to happen," she recalled. "Up to this time, it was just a competition. She won, and then my next thought (was) 'Well, we're do we go from here?' You know? 'I don't know how to do anything about any of this.'"

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