Jelly Roll sat down on Wednesday SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show to talk all about how he met his wife Bunny XO and how she saved him in his darkest hour.
“I think it’s one of the wildest stories that has ever happened in the music business”, he said of their unconventional love story.
The Lose Control crooner and his wife of eight years first met at a bar back in 2015 after she saw him perform in Las Vegas. “I loved her from the moment I met her”, he remembered fondly.
“It was kind of poetic,” he said of their first encounter, “it’s almost like meeting in aisle three of a grocery store, art lost in time.”
Bunnie XO is a successful podcaster in her own right, hosting her show Dumb Blonde, which has featured notable guests like burlesque legend Dita Von Teese and felon-turned-influencer Gypsy Rose Blanchard.
She is also a loving stepmother to his two children, Baileem, 16, and Noah seven, who he says he turned his life around for. Speaking to Howard about his daughter’s Sweet 16 birthday party, he shared, “If I lost all this today and moved back to Antioch, I’d be fine. But if you told me my little girl might not have a friend at her birthday party, I’d cry like a baby before it even happens.”
Everyone loves a rags-to-riches story, and Jelly Roll’s one is no different; the man went from a jail cell to being nominated for two Grammys, including Best New Artist in 2024.
© Getty ImagesConvicted of aggravated assault when he was just 16, he served a year in prison followed by seven years of probation. “I was the worst criminal ever”, he joked to Howard. “My successfulness of running from the police was zero in 20.”
He landed back in jail when he was 23 for drug dealing, but this time around he was determined to get back to his young daughter. “I honestly think if I wouldn’t have had a kid, I never would’ve broken that cycle”, he admitted on the podcast.
© Getty ImagesWhen he met Bunnie, she was in an abusive relationship, and he was “just so lost in life” as well, but ultimately, the couple turned their lives around for each other.
“That guy [Bunnie’s partner] ended up going to federal prison and she reached out to me and we became friends. I loved her from go”, he shared.
© Kevin MazurOn Bunnie’s birthday in January, the 39-year-old posted a sweet Instagram message, calling her the “anchor” of his family and gushing that he wakes up every day “a little more in love than I was the day before”.
“To know where she came from and what she has made of herself is unbelievable”, he wrote. The pair are evidently smitten with each other, and a baby Jelly Roll could be on the way.
Recently, Bunnie took to Instagram after her husband spilled the beans on their IVF journey during a chat on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast. She revealed to her 1.5 million followers, “We had planned on doing this privately, but decided our IVF journey needed to be shared because we’ve always been so open. We have been meeting with IVF doctors and exploring all our options to add to our family.”
“J and I are SO excited and scared all at the same time,” she continued. “We genuinely never thought we’d want to add to our family but something changed this year and we both just want a piece of us together to add to our already perfect family with Bailee and Noah.”
