Country Star Jelly Roll's Life With His Wife Bunnie Xo
The 2023 CMT Music Awards made headlines for a number of reasons. Carrie Underwood got a leg up, quite literally, "You Oughtta Know" singer Alanis Morrisette delivered a memorable performance, and country music fan favorite Miranda Lambert was missing in action.
Over and above that, it was an event of many firsts for singer Jason DeFord, otherwise known by his stage name, Jelly Roll. It marked Jelly Roll's inaugural nationwide broadcast performance, his maiden award show, and his first time as a nominee since he introduced himself to the masses by featuring Memphis rapper Lil Wyte on "Pop Another Pill" in 2010.
Although Jelly Roll had a moment of self-doubt, his wife — the self-proclaimed Trailer Park Barbara Walters and host of the Dumb Blonde podcast, Bunnie Xo DeFord — was right there by his side, cheering him on. "My wife was like, 'Hey this is your award, you should look up,'" Jelly Roll shared in a post-award interview with Austin American-Statesman. "I wasn't even looking up, I was like,'No, trust me. For sure, no way I win this one.'" A few seconds later, Jelly Roll was collecting his second award for the night, and another afterward.
Theirs is an endearing romance, full of lengthy personal notes, public displays of affection, and good old TikTok humor. Without further ado, here's a trip down the DeFord lane.
They met when he was homeless
Although Bunnie Xo has often been accused of being with Jelly Roll for his money by social media sleuths, the reality couldn't be far from the truth. Back when she met her would-be husband, there was no gold to dig. The "Son of a Sinner" singer was struggling to get by.
"I was, like, touring, living in, like a '97 high-top Southern Comfort van and was, like a** broke when I met her," Jelly Roll disclosed on The Golden Hour podcast. If anything, Bunnie Xo was the financially endowed partner (details on this, next).
At the time, the pair had been in unhealthy relationships, as Jelly Roll recalled when he revisited the moment years later. The foundation of their relationship, he told Taste of Country, was unfeigned energy. None of them was putting up a front. "I felt her soul," a sentimental Jelly Roll said. "When I hugged her, I could just feel the genuineness of her. I could tell it wasn't an act."
He was accepting of her sex work past
When Jelly Roll met Bunnie Xo, his soon-to-be wife was swimming in a pool of hard cash, which automatically dismisses any gold digger claims. While Jelly Roll was a small-time artist raking in at least $100 per show, Bunnie Xo was dealing with who's who in the corporate world and making thousands of dollars while at it. "Literally, I would make $30,000 – $40,000 a night," Bunnie Xo confessed on the Dumb Blonde podcast. "I had sugar daddies who gave me half a million dollars. I've had cars bought for me ... diamonds, [and] jewelry. Just, whatever you can think of."
It was a past she left behind once Jelly Roll stepped into the scene, largely because her stepdaughter Bailee Ann DeFord was now in her care. Additionally, she didn't hide any detail from her future husband, who embraced her with open arms since he had his own shortcomings. "I didn't understand the concept. I was a f*****g old Southern crack dealer," Jelly Roll remarked on Bertcast. "Kid that's trying to be a rockstar. You know and I'm just like, 'I don't understand this.' But I didn't have a problem with it."
They did drugs together
The beginning of Jelly Roll's relationship with Bunnie Xo was a script out of "The Wolf of Wall Street." Just like Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his crew, the DeFords popped pills and snorted cocaine like they were hanging on for dear life. "The difference between me and her was, she was wild," Jelly Roll recollected during his Bertcast appearance. "The [probably] first five interactions we had at casinos, she was feeding me just nails of cocaine. And then at the end of the night, I'd be like, 'Got a Xanax?' And she'd be like, 'Yep!'"
For Bunnie Xo, taking Xanax wasn't a once-in-a-while affair. She was hooked onto the tranquilizer to the extent of overdosing. It took the gentle love of her late mother to finally find her footing. "The one reason I respect my mom so much is because there was a time in my life when I was super addicted to Xanax ... and I would call my mom when I finally made the conscious decision to get off of it ... I called my mom every night at like two or three in the morning just bawling my eyes out. And I even told her, 'I don't wanna end up like you,'" Bunnie Xo narrated in an April 2020 episode of the Dumb Blonde podcast, adding that addiction had gotten in the way of her friendships.
Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo got married in Vegas
Contrary to the public's perception, Bunnie Xo was the one who made a move on Jelly Roll. "We had mutual friends. So, she was like,' Yo, just plug me in with Jelly,' and I hit her on some other sh*t. I was like, 'Yo, I'm trynna come out there and shoot some content,'" Jelly Roll recounted on The Golden Hour.
Their wedding, he went on to explain, was an impromptu adventure. At a Yelawolf and Deftones show, Jelly Roll went down on one knee as the crowd watched. He popped the question, and she said yes. The fact that midnight was approaching didn't stop the lovebirds from taking the plunge the same night. By the crack of dawn, they were Mr. and Mrs. DeFord.
It was Bunnie Xo's third time in matrimony, she explained on her podcast. The first time she got hitched, it was to help her then-husband escape incarceration. The stunt didn't work, and he ended up serving jail time. They lasted all of six months. Her second marriage made it to the five-year mark, except Bunnie Xo got tired of bringing home the bacon while her spouse made no effort. Jelly Roll proved that the third time was a charm, after all.
The couple's relationship is open
The marriage between Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo is open to third parties, at least according to Jelly Roll's 2018 conversation with 247HH. "My wife and I openly invite women into our relationship. It's kind of a thing," the "Save Me" singer gave away. "I think it's cool because we're like Beauty and the Beast anyway. I'm like this super fat, ugly dude, she's like this bombshell blonde."
Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo's unconventional relationship is not without its set of laws. In the first place, it goes both ways. "We allow each other to be who we want to be," Bunnie Xo explained on her podcast. "If I wanna sleep with another guy, I can go sleep with another guy." Secondly, group hookup calls are restricted to women only, and Bunnie Xo's interests reign supreme. No guys are allowed unless she comes in contact with Jason Momoa or Jax Teller, in which case the rules will have to be revisited.
Their public image has gotten in the way of parenting
When the DeFords got custody of Jelly Roll's daughter, Bailee Ann DeFord, Bunnie Xo quickly switched to parenting mode. Although the ex-escort shunned her past to begin an uber-successful podcast, and is a step up from Bailee's biological mother, who had staged a heroin-induced disappearing act then, her brand stays raunchy. Similarly, Jelly Roll is no saint on social media, and his child's playmates' parents have caught on.
"These friends' mothers will let Bailee play with their children, but won't let their children come to my house," Jelly Roll carped in a conversation with Taste of Country. "That's where they draw the boundary. They're like, 'Aaah! Nope! His wife dresses provocative and he publicly drinks and smokes pot. You're not going over there.'"
The moms, however, may have held a different opinion back when Bailee celebrated her twelfth birthday in the company of friends. She also got reunited with her biological mother who was sober for one year and three months.
Jelly Roll encouraged his wife to post explicit content
Long before Bunnie Xo was laying it all on the table for her social media audience, her husband had already bought into the idea. And when she joined OnlyFans, he was beside her, handpicking the best content to upload, as she shared in a Facebook post.
Speaking to the "Shimmy Down My Chimney" singer on the Dumb Blonde podcast, Jelly Roll co-signed his wife's material. "I despise the judgment that you get," he voiced. "First of all, do you think I'm that much of a f*****g pushover that if I had a problem with it we'd be together?"
His wife was in total agreement. Bunnie Xo expressed in a different episode that they lead a transparent lifestyle, free from secrets. Getting an OnlyFans account made financial sense for the couple as well, following the cancellation of Jelly Roll's tour amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
The couple broke up briefly in 2018
In March 2018, Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo went their separate ways for a while. An emotional Bunnie Xo took to the internet to share the devastating news with her YouTube audience. "It's been hard and, you know, for the best. And, I'm not gonna talk about why we're separated. He has his version, I have my version, but hopefully one day we'll be able to be friends," she said of her partner, who had since moved out of their shared house.
The split appeared to be permanent, going by Bunnie Xo's decision to relocate to Austin and Las Vegas, where most of her friends were settled. Luckily, the pair were apart for a split second. A trip to Vail, Colorado helped them patch things up, after which Jelly Roll was more than ready to get back on track again. "I love you bubble bear. I'm sorry for being an a**hole more often than not. I missed you so f*****g much. Let's get back to kicking ass," he said on a vlog.
They had the same (mid) morning routine during quarantine
While on tour, Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo have a futile run, as he shared when giving artists tips on Digital Tour Bus. More often than not, the couple found themselves at the mercy of girls who led them on, only to be bar hopping at daybreak.
During quarantine, however, things slowed down, and the couple had time to kill. Their mornings started at midday, during which they'd jointly have a meal. "J and I are so scheduled, that we wake up at a certain time. He always wakes up before me and then I get up about an hour after him ...We wake up at twelve now," Bunnie Xo disclosed in a podcast conversation with her husband.
The artist lifestyle was even more unpredictable in August 2020 when Jelly Roll hilariously alluded to having no morning ritual via Twitter, revealing that he almost always woke up with a hangover that needed curing.
The family experienced major losses in 2022
In November 2022, the DeFord family was hit by the loss of two family members. Through Twitter, Jelly Roll shared, "I got the call that my nephew was killed the same day I headlined red rocks – still put on a show -seen my nephew in a casket the same day I played Rome River Jam and still rocked it. Took my wife to say her final goodbyes to her mother and still rocked Estero Florida last night."
Bunnie Xo's biological mother had walked out of her life when she was barely a toddler. The better part of her childhood was spent in the care of her dad, and later her stepmother when her father married again. It wasn't until more than two decades later that the mom-daughter duo reconnected through the internet.
"She found me, um I think, and she popped up on my screen one time and was like, 'Hey, this is your mom.' I was like 'Oh f*** your yourself,'" Bunnie Xo narrated on her podcast. Regardless of the hostile introduction, the pair got to meet and keep in touch via social media. Bunnie Xo was heartbroken by her mother's passing. She conveyed the difficulty of the moment through an Instagram post, in which she wrote in part, "Love you Mama, see you on the other side."
He supported her through an implant removal surgery
In October 2019, Bunnie Xo announced via Facebook that she would be getting rid of her breast implants to return her bust to a lesser size. "Am I scared? Yes. Nervous? Absolutely. But Ima rock it no matter [what] size my t**s are," she wrote partially, further addressing issues around body image. Bunnie Xo went on to reveal that she was so self-conscious early in her relationship with Jelly Roll, that it took a whole year for him to see her makeup-free face.
She documented the process on YouTube, during which her audience landed front-row seats to the affectionate side of Jelly Roll. He was beside his wife on the way to the hospital, offered her a shoulder to lean on when she was overwhelmed by emotion, and waited while she had the two-and-a-half-hour procedure done.
Bunnie Xo's implants would later make headlines for their moldy state after she posted them on TikTok in 2022. The "Bring Your Package To Me" singer cited health concerns as the reason she had them explanted after more than a decade.
Bunnie Xo is Jelly Roll's biggest cheerleader
Jelly Roll has his wife to thank for his life taking an all-new trajectory. As soon as Bunnie Xo came into the picture, Jelly Roll's career took an upward turn. He went from working numerous shows for $200 maximum payouts to selling out arenas. With each stellar performance, Bunnie Xo rallies behind her spouse on social media, capturing behind-the-scenes footage for her audience, hyping things up before the start of a show, and penning heartfelt reflections.
In October 2022, Jelly Roll's life as a performer came full circle when he returned to Bunnie Xo's city, Las Vegas as an established artist. It was his wife, however, who bore the weight of the moment."I left this city 7 years ago shattered & lost.. to chase a dream w/ a man I knew for 30 days. To come back to the city that tried to break me- healing & on our own terms is the most powerful feeling ever," Bunnie Xo partly wrote on Instagram.
Following Jelly Roll's iconic win at the CMT Music Awards, Bunnie Xo — who was once again front and center as he was recognized for the mastery of his craft— shared yet another deeply felt message, terming him as a rose that grew from the concrete.
They have a cordial relationship with Jelly Roll's baby mama
Jelly Roll and his first baby mama, Felicia, met in their teens, as she shared on the "Dumb Blonde podcast." The then-lovers' relationship was often rocky due to Jelly Roll's focus on work. Right before their daughter Bailee was born in May 2008, Jelly Roll was imprisoned. His relationship with Felicia hit an even rougher patch when he was released, such that seeing his daughter became a near-impossible feat. An artist at heart, Jelly Roll relayed his feelings about his once strenuous co-parenting journey through music. The former heartthrobs have since found a working co-parenting system, which has Jelly Roll likening Felicia to a sister.
On the other hand, Bunnie Xo got a bit cozier with Jelly Roll's baby mama. On a "Dumb Blonde podcast" Q&A session, she let the listeners in on a not-so-well-kept family secret. "I think I made out with her one time," Bunnie Xo admitted. "I didn't talk about it in the podcast." According to Jelly Roll, things got steamy between the duo when they were intoxicated on Broadway. Although he wasn't present, he got video footage of the exact moment, recorded by his wife. Of course, Jelly Roll took it lightly.