Carrie Underwood Defends Speaking Out on Gay Marriage

Carrie Underwood created quite the controversy last year when she became one of the first country music artists to vocalize her support of gay marriage. The singer admits she was unprepared for the backlash voicing her opinion would create, but she says she doesn't regret speaking her mind.

“Someone asked me a question and I tried to give an honest answer,” she explains to Redbook magazine (quote via Taste of Country). “If someone won’t like me because of that, then maybe they were looking for a reason not to like me.”

At the time, the 'Blown Away' singer, who is the wife of professional hockey player Mike Fisher, said that she felt everyone deserved the happiness they had found.

“As a married person myself, I don’t know what it’s like to be told I can’t marry somebody I love,” she stated. “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.”

Later, Underwood said she didn't intend to start such a heated debate, and wanted people to focus on her music instead. “I was asked a difficult question in the last five minutes of an interview and I answered it the best way I knew how," she explained. "I do what I do and I love making music and I generally try to stay out of any kind of controversy.".

One thing is certain, Underwood is perfectly content in her own marriage. The couple, who wed in 2010, spend a lot of time apart, due to their busy careers, but she says their union is stronger than ever.

“No one ever has a bad word to say about him. He’s one of the good ones. I don’t need to check up on him," she explains. "If he goes out to a bar with his friends, [a tabloid] is going to report about it. Same goes for me. Trust is what it is. Either you trust someone or you don’t. And I’ve never trusted anyone more than I trust [Mike].”

Underwood is on the cover of this month's edition of Redbook magazine, which is on newsstands now.