At the end of last year, American Idol winner Carrie Underwood posted on Twitter to let her fans know that she had sustained some nasty injuries after a fall outside her home. At first, all she said was that she had broken her wrist - and subsequently had to have surgery to reset it - and had gotten a few cuts and scrapes in the process.
Later on, however, she claimed that she had up to around 50 stitches in her face.
In a post to her fan club, Underwood admitted that "There is also another part of the story that I haven’t been ready to talk about since I have still been living it and there has been much uncertainty as to how things will end up," adding that, "it’s crazy how a freak random accident can change your life."
She went on:
"In addition to breaking my wrist, I somehow managed to injure my face as well. I’ll spare you the gruesome details, but when I came out of surgery the night of my fall, the doctor told [Underwood’s husband] Mike that he had put between 40 and 50 stitches in."
However, just a matter of hours after that was posted, people began speculating that Underwood was lying about having stitches, as a photograph taken since her accident appeared to show her as her usual self.
"I didn't notice anything amiss on her face," Adrienne Gang, the other woman in the picture, told US Weekly. "Simply, she looked lovely. She was extremely friendly and gracious."
What's more, the star had obviously been reluctant to share images of herself after posting the statement, as this was the first selfie she put on Instagram following her announcement:
Some eagle-eyed fans leaped to her defense, however, and pointed out that all the pictures taken since her accident showed only one side of her face, and there was a possibility that the injuries were all concealed by clever camera angles.
Now, the plot has thickened further, as Underwood has posted a profile image of her face... and it still doesn't look any different to how it did before.
Clearly, something doesn't quite add up here. Underwood had led fans to believe that she would look completely different, having made a big deal of the "gruesome details" of the fall and stating that the "freak random accident" would "change [her] life".
Some people, once again, asserted that she had probably just had some cosmetic surgery, or that she had exaggerated her injuries.
"There ain't no scar," wrote one person on Instagram. "She just got her lips done. She is just another fake superficial celeb."
"See nothing to make a big deal about," said another.
But others stood by her, writing: "She didn't have a facelift at her young beautiful age. She is a Christian woman and doesn't lie. She fell she got stitches and she deserves as much privacy as she wants or needs."
Regardless of what did or didn't happen, though, we're just happy to see the singer back on her feet and making music.