Country music star Jelly Roll files for divorce from Bunnie Xo
– Let’s start with the title of the book, Bunnie. – Okay. – I love “Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic,” and all I can say to that is, wow, wow, wow. But you also write, you said, listen, this is a healing story, but the story isn’t pretty. And that’s what I marvel at in the book, because most times people would not be this candid. I always like the first line of a book, and so the first line in your book grabbed me right away. “The thing about me is that,” – I should be dead. – “I should be dead.” That’s a hell of a way to start, because I read that line and go, what happened, what happened, what happened? – Yeah. – And you’re writing about a car accident that you had when your friend was driving. And you’re right, you should have been dead in that car accident, the way that you guys were sort of t-boned by the truck. But when you read the story, there were so many things that happened to you that you should have been dead. – I truly feel like God has always had his hand on my life no matter what, no matter how far I walked away from Him, He was always just right there catching me every time I fell. And I’m like a cat. I have 9 lives, maybe 10, possibly 11 or 12. – I’m gonna add 13, 14, 15 – There you go. – to that. – Yes. – Let’s talk about your dad. Let’s talk about your mom. Your dad was a musician. Your mom was a stripper. That was a house you grew up in. You saw a lot of, what did you call it? It was just, it was very chaotic. It was a very chaotic household. And you’re just a little kid. – I, so my mom ended up leaving me on a doorstep when I was three months old, and my dad ended up getting full custody of me. And, you know, being raised by a single father, especially back in those days, it was just, I don’t know, it was different. And he used to bring me to bars with my uncles and like, it was just a wild lifestyle, and then he ended up getting married to my stepmom. – He also was a bit of a ladies’ man, Bill was. – He was a lot of a ladies man. One thing about Bill, he loved a lady. And so growing up in the household that I did, especially with my abusive stepmother being my first bully, I just grew up around a lot of people that I knew I didn’t wanna be like. – At one point, you write in the book, you went through a lot of things and you became suicidal and thought, “I’m just gonna end it. I’m gonna end it.” You did try to take your life. What was going on at the time that you decided you would make that decision? – I did notice a theme, which I never had realized in my life that I have always dealt with some sort of suicidal tendencies or ideation, and I never put the two and two together until I started writing this book. And I was like, wow, I really have battled with this my whole life, but never realized it. And at that first attempt when I was in the desert with the glass, I had just gone through an ectopic pregnancy, and before that I had gone through a really rough abortion. I had just left, ran away from home for the first time – At 14. – 14. So this is 14 to 17. – Yeah, yes. A man exposed himself to you. – Oh, I had. – It was just one thing, yeah. – Just, oh, I had been raped and left in a bathroom. – Yes. – And I think it was just so many emotions and you know, after you lose a pregnancy, also, you’re going through all of those emotions and you’re like, what did I do? And I think it just became so overwhelming that in that moment, I let temporary emotions almost make a permanent decision. – So fast forward, you had a series of, you know, unhealthy relationships. And even when you meet the man we know as Jelly Roll, – Yeah. – you call him J in the book. Daddy roll. – Daddy roll. His name is Jason, but even when you meet him in the book, you know, he’s performing in a band. But I love how you describe him because I thought that this was interesting. You said, “But your soul recognized his,” that the two of you, because he’s also been through stuff in his life too. – Yes. We are literally living an unfairytale. I think we are just the people that weren’t supposed to make it, were not supposed to be here, but we are. And we wanna make sure people know that we’re not supposed to be here, but we’re so grateful that we are, and we want people to know that they can do it too. From the minute I met him was just, our souls were just like, and that is my best friend. And it’s been a wild journey. – He didn’t judge you because you were working as an escort. You had your own business, you call them clients. You were still seeing clients. You were still seeing clients when you all were together. And he was okay with that? – Yes, my husband has never shamed me. – Yes. – He’s never tried to tell me who to be or what to be. He understood that my hyper independence was a part of me, and I never wanted to rely on him. I always wanted to be a part of a team. It was very big for me to say, you know, like, hey, – I have my own thing. – I have my own thing going on. We meet in the middle. If you need help, I got you. Like, I wanna be able to just hold my up my end of the bargain. – But I didn’t understand Bunnie, why you wanted to still have clients when you had him. I didn’t understand that. – You have to realize, we came from a street mentality, so. – What does that mean? – It’s just a different way of life. So like, I was a hustler, he’s a hustler, and we just kind of respected what we call the game together. And the night that we got married, he did hold my hands and he looked at me in my eyes and he said, “Bunnie, you’re never, you’re not gonna have to do this for much longer.” And I was like, “Oh,” and I just laughed it off thinking that it would be cute. – Isn’t he sweet? – He’s the best. And, but he meant it, and that’s what I’m saying. My husband does not say things he doesn’t mean. And you know, here we are. But I wanted to do things my way. If I was going to get out of the business, it was gonna be because I built something and I could do that. And I was able to do that in 2022. I had shut down my Only Fans and my podcast had taken off so big that it was able to, you know? – Satisfy you. – Satisfy me, but also take care of the people that I love who work for me, and that was like the biggest thing that I wanted to do. – But even then, it was still bumpy and rocky, even in the beginning of the marriage. – Well, I think his childhood trauma triggered my childhood trauma. And we didn’t realize that there was so much that we both needed to heal separately and together to even have a good relationship. And you know, the first three years was rough. And I mean, we had to tear each other’s walls down to the ground before we could even build on a solid foundation. – I think when trust is broken, it’s very difficult to get it back. There was infidelity in your marriage, but you still, you guys still fought through it. How were you able to do that? – When people go through infidelity, everybody’s gonna deal with it differently, but at the same time, I feel like the blame always gets put on the man. I truly felt like in that moment, I needed to look within and I needed to say, “Okay, why do I keep attracting these men? What am I doing that is contributing to this situation?” Because I had brought in a ton of baggage also, and I wasn’t a bowl of cherries to live with, you know? And so instead of pointing my finger at him, I just wanted to stand beside him and figure it out. And I really felt like he deserved that second chance. And I’m so glad I did because look at the man that he’s become. – Look at the life that you all have together today. – I know. I saw a broken soul that needed help and I was just so attracted to that. But at the same time, he also made me laugh. – Yeah. – Like I’m telling you, when a man can make you laugh, the panties will drop. – Agreed. – I’m telling you. – Where is he? – [Bunnie] Yeah. – Where is he? – Gayle, we got you one baby. – Please. Do I remove them now? Think about this for a second. You had been suffered from anxiety, depression, had issues with drugs, had issues with alcohol, but he had a daughter. And you said the daughter Bailey was actually very helpful in helping you heal. – Yes. – How so? – Looking at that little girl for the first time, – ‘Cause how old was she at the time? – She was seven, about to turn eight, and the first time I met her was in a Burger King in the middle of like some town in Tennessee. She was so independent, hyper independent, just very sassy, very tenacious, very like, so her first question to me was, “So what do you want with my dad?” – ‘Cause her mother had had drug issues too – Her mother had drug issues. – like your mother. – And she was very protective of her father, and I was always very protective of my father. And I just looked at her and I was like, “I just love him,” you know? And I just wanted to be soft in that moment. But as our relationship progressed and I learned that we were going to get full custody of her, I was just like, who are we to take her away from her mother, who we are claiming as an addict and not fit enough to care for her, but bringing her into our home where we’re still doing the same things just at a different level than her mother. So I was like, you know what? This little girl deserves a chance that I never got, and I’m gonna be as good of a role model for her as I can, which I’m not perfect. But I don’t know, it’s just, she proved to me that I could be a mom. – How do you feel about his weight loss? ‘Cause you were attracted to him back then, much ado has been made about his weight loss. How was he able to lose the weight and what role did you play in it? – So 2018 to like 2020, my husband had lost a lot of weight also, and during that journey, I was cooking for him and I was doing stuff like that for him, and I really encouraged that journey. But it wasn’t like, he didn’t lose the weight the healthy way. He lost it by like, you know, really restrictive calories. We had gone vegan. It was crazy. He ended up gaining the weight back and then this time he actually had a team around him from Ways to Wellness. He now can run up to five miles a day, which is insane, ’cause I can’t do it. – Whoa, yes. – But he took up jogging and. – And he likes it? – Oh, he loves it. I can’t get this man to not run. He’s like Forrest Gump, I cannot. – Is he running down the street or is he just running after you? Because he’s also been very vocal about his sex drive has increased. – Yes. – He feels like he’s a teenage boy again. – He does. – Is that good for you? – It’s been, listen Gayle, it has been amazing. Let me tell you. – Yes, tell me. I am jealous. – He has been, it’s been like we, you know, every relationship goes through ebbs and flows. – Yes, yes, yes, yes. – And even when he was heavy, we still had a sex life, but it was a little bit harder for him, and now it’s like he’s doing things and saying things and I’m just like, “Who is this man?” I’m like, “Where is this coming from?” But it’s like I love it and I’m so supportive of it because he deserves that. He deserves to be the happiest. And if we do have babies, I want him to be around – Yes. – as long as he possibly can – Yes. – to see them be able to go to college. – Bailey’s 18. – Yeah. – He has a son. – Yes. – But both of you want children. You write in the book that you’re doing IVF, which is also a big journey. But you also write that you want twins. – We do. – You do. – We want twins. – You wanna start baby making, you wanna start baby life all over. – So I never got. – Two babies in the house. – I never got to experience the baby part, and he never got to experience the baby part because he wasn’t with Bailey’s mom. And then Noah’s mom was pregnant when J and I had got together. They were in a off and on relationship, and they were off at the time and she was already nine months pregnant.
Country music star Jelly Roll files for divorce from Bunnie Xo
Country music star Jelly Roll has filed for divorce from Bunnie Xo after nearly 10 years of marriage.The singer, whose real name is Jason DeFord, filed for divorce from his podcaster wife, whose real name is Alisa DeFord, on May 18 in Tennessee, USA Today reported.The couple, who married in 2016, have spoken publicly about the ups and downs of their marriage, saying they briefly broke up in 2018. Jelly Roll — known for his popular hits “Son of a Sinner” and “Need a Favor” — has two children from a previous relationship.Representatives for both stars have not commented on the divorce filing.
Country music star Jelly Roll has filed for divorce from Bunnie Xo after nearly 10 years of marriage.
The singer, whose real name is Jason DeFord, filed for divorce from his podcaster wife, whose real name is Alisa DeFord, on May 18 in Tennessee, USA Today reported.
The couple, who married in 2016, have spoken publicly about the ups and downs of their marriage, saying they briefly broke up in 2018.
Jelly Roll — known for his popular hits “Son of a Sinner” and “Need a Favor” — has two children from a previous relationship.
Representatives for both stars have not commented on the divorce filing.
