Carrie Underwood Struggles to Handle Emotional Weight of American Idol Judging Role

Songbird Carrie Underwood is reportedly getting tied in knots trying to adjust to her emotion-ravaging American Idol judging gig, and sources say alarmed friends are urging the country cutie to ease up — for fear she could burn herself out!

Sources snitch the 42-year-old blond knockout’s problem is her relentless drive for excellence and feeling the heavy burden of holding the future of Idol contestants in her hands.

“Carrie is a huge perfectionist,” notes an insider. “The standards she has for herself are extremely high and she tends to pick apart everything she does.

“She finds her weak points and improves, but it also causes her a whole lot of stress. Now, she’s carrying the added weight of holding these contestants’ futures in her hands and knowing exactly what that feels like.

“That takes a big emotional toll as well because she can genuinely feel their tension over the situation and their painful disappointment — it literally brings her to tears at times!”

A season 23 episode of the ABC competition showed tenderhearted Carrie overcome with emotion when a contestant related a tough backstory.

“My grandparents raised me from the moment I turned 2,” the young wannabe shared. “She put everything she had in me all these years.”

When the camera cut to Carrie, she was gushing tears and blowing her nose.

“You okay over there,” fellow judge Luke Bryan asked Carrie, to which she replied, “I’m not!”

According to the source, people around Carrie wonder if she has the inner strength to judge others on Idol.

Adds the insider, “Her friends can’t help worrying because the level of expectations she sets for herself and the sheer workload would break a lot of people.

“Carrie is known as a tough cookie, but she has her limits — the worry is that she’ll push past them and hurt herself!”