Let Jelly Roll and Bunnie XO's Love Story Break Your Heart of Stone

Jelly Roll Says Sex With Bunnie Xo Before His Weight Loss Was Like “Playing Twister”

If you love a good story, Jelly Roll and Bunnie XO have some wild ones.

But—up until he filed for divorce in May—the tale of their decade-long romance was pretty tough to beat.

"They were about to embark on one of the hardest and wildest [journeys] together as twin flames & soulmates," Bunnie wrote in an April 2025 TikTok recapping their evolution. "Changing who they were together at their cores and breaking every stigma & generational curse along the way.”

It all started in 2015, when Jelly Roll was performing at the Las Vegas Country Saloon. And while Bunnie was there with another guy, she only had eyes for the "Heart of Stone" singer.

"Our souls really just recognized each other," she said on an April 2024 episode of Cancelled with Tana Mongeau & Brooke Schofield. "It was like, 'There you are.'"

After initially building a friendship, Bunnie and Jelly Roll decided to take a shot at love in July 2016. However, they weren’t the celebrity couple fans know them as today.

"My wife at the time was an escort, a high-end escort, in Vegas," the musician—a.k.a. Jason DeFord—shared on a January 2024 episode of the Full Send Podcast. "She grew up in Vegas. And at the time, I was [doing] $500 shows, living in that white van. I didn’t have a key to an apartment."

Around this time, Jelly Roll was also seeking full custody of his now 17-year-old daughter Bailee amid her mother’s battle with addiction. And about a week before he and Bunnie wed in August 2016, he welcomed his son Noah with another ex.

"I have to sit Bunnie down and go, 'Look, I have a kid that you know about that I'm fixing to have to get full custody of,'" the country music star recalled on a June 2023 episode of Bussin' With The Boys. "There's also a woman out there that's pregnant with a kid of mine.'"

Still, Bunnie doubled-down on her support—helping Jelly Roll find a condo when he struggled to obtain one due to his past robbery and drug-related charges and paying for a lawyer in his fight for custody.

"I'll never forget, Bunnie looked at me and, man it makes me emotional, she said, 'No matter what happens with us, I’m gonna help you get this little girl,'" the "Son of a Sinner" artist added. "I was like, 'Man, what character.'"

Gilbert Flores/Penske Media via Getty Images

Jelly Roll and Bunnie obtained custody of Bailee and continued to grow their future together, discussing their intention to consider adoption as they struggle with fertility.

Still, they faced other challenges, including, as the musician revealed last fall, his decision to cheat on the podcaster.

"I don’t talk about this publicly at all, but one of the worst moments of my adulthood was when I had an affair on my wife," he admitted on the October 2025 episode of the Human School podcast. "Because it was the first time that I was like, 'I really can’t get this right at all. Like, I know I’m in love with this woman.' It just really, really, really blew me back."

However, Jelly Roll and Bunnie—who’ve spoken about how they briefly split in 2018—decided that if love is a war, it’s one they want to keep fighting.

"I did a lot of work to repair that relationship," he continued. "The repair has been special, man. We’re stronger than we could’ve ever been. I wish our story would’ve went in the way that it never had an affair, and I’m in no way glad it happened, but, man, I’m proud of who we are today."

And while they experienced ups and downs like any couple, they felt they were there for each other until the wheels fell off.

"Real relationships take f--king work, dude," Bunnie said on Cancelled. "Everything’s not f--king butterflies and rainbows all the time."

Through it all, the couple continued to work on their goals. For instance, Bunnie spoke about her hope to one day grow their family through IVF and surrogacy, and Jelly Roll talked about his target for his weight loss journey—already losing more than 200 pounds.

"I want to be on the cover of Men’s Health by March of 2026. That's the goal," the 41-year-old said on a 2024 episode of his wife's podcast Dumb Blonde. "That’s my new goal. I want to have one of the biggest transformations."

And even after everything they accomplished—including Jelly Roll’s hits like "Need a Favor" and "I Am Not Okay” as well as Bunnie’s Dumb Blonde podcast and memoir Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic—they were still bewildered by their success story.

"Sometimes I look at my husband and I’m like, 'Who are we? What are we doing?'" she admitted to Entertainment Tonight in 2024. "Because I remember eight years ago, we were in Vegas dreaming about this. And now, we’re living it."

Though Bunnie and Jelly Roll have stopped betting on each other, keep reading to learn more about their history before their breakup.

A version of this story was originally published November 2, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. PST.

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