After years spent slogging away in tiny clubs, he finally broke through into the mainstream.
Their journey together has been well documented, and it’s far from typical.
So how did an ex-con and former escort become the new king and queen of country music?
“We met at a bar.”
Meanwhile, his living situation at the time wasn’t exactly luxurious.
“And [Jelly Roll] was like, ‘You know what baby?
I don’t give a f***.’
Yet, those weren’t the only strikes against him.
However, that’s not the way it went down.
“Bunnie is just like, ‘Whew, man, that’s a lot.’
She was like, ‘But I got you,'” he said.
Bunnie Xo immediately agreed to his spontaneous proposal, and suddenly the two were engaged.
“I’m like, ‘F*** it, let’s just go now.’
“Open, real, honest communication.
We talk about the uncomfortable stuff up front.
It’s a real important thing in our marriage,” Jelly Roll toldFox News Digital.
“And also, we don’t take nothing too serious.
Have a short memory.
Laugh as much as you could.”
Since then, his daughter, Bailee Ann DeFord, came to become an integral part of their lives.
Looking back, Jelly Roll still can’t believe he was granted custody.
“A guy with my rap sheet, and the judge deemed that I was responsible enough?”
he said with a laugh while appearing on “The Howard Stern Show.”
Since then, Bunnie has become a “mama bear” who’s fully embraced her role as stepmother.
“You know, Bunnie didn’t have kids.
“In Lansing, Michigan, she brought, like three women on the bus.”
“We allow each other to be who we want to be.
If I want to sleep with another guy, I can go sleep with another guy.
When Jelly Roll appeared on the “Steve-O’s Wild Ride!”
podcast in 2024, he revealed that he and Bunnie Xo were still getting up to their shenanigans.
“Because I’ve held too many things like this, and it’s just never worked for me.
So we’re just very open.”
There have, however, been bumps in the road.
She went public with their breakup in aYouTube vlog, revealing that they’d separated.
“I married my best friend,” he wrote in a post that he shared viaFacebook.
“She is the backbone of my entire existence.
I love you mama bear.”
You’re supposed to be able to handle it.’
No the f*** we’re not.”
A post shared by Bunnie Xo.
(@xomgitsbunnie)
This time, the couple planned to do it right.
“My only regret was never seeing her in a dress.
[Seven] years to the date in the same chapel we renewed our vows.”
“Like, real money.
“People you know.”
However, she never did completely give up sex work, which she continued through her OnlyFans account.
“Awww a year ago I retired from the SW [sex work] industry,” she wrote.
She saved me in one of the darkest times of my life.”
“I’m like an accessory piece.
I’m like an extra earring.”
“I was like, ‘You’re not a plus-one no more, baby!
You’re a seat!'”
In June 2024, Jelly Roll revealed that he and Bunnie Xo were hoping to have a baby together.
I got to see this kid into college,” he said.
