Bunnie Xo Didn’t Expect the Holidays to ‘Hurt Like This’ in 2024

The holidays are a time for families to come together. But for those grieving the loss of a loved one, or for those with difficult family separations, this time of year can be a lonely one.

As Jelly Roll and his family celebrated Thanksgiving in 2024, the holiday was bittersweet for his wife Bunnie Xo. That’s because this holiday always reminds her of her dad Bill, who died in May after a battle with cancer.

Bunnie and her father had a complicated relationship: She’s spoken publicly about her tumultuous childhood and her history with Bill, which included periods of estrangement. But she and her father reconciled during his cancer treatment, and Bill moved to Nashville in order to be closer to his daughter and country star son-in-law and to receive medical treatment in Tennessee.

In a reflective social media post, Bunnie shared video of the family’s Thanksgiving celebrations from last year, which included her father. This holiday was a special one for him, she notes.

“Thanksgiving was always the time my dad would come around,” she writes. “We could go all year not speaking. No matter what woman he was with, Thanksgiving he would pop up.”

She also remembered the feeling she had during their Thanksgiving celebrations last year.

“In this video, I knew in my heart it would be our last one together,” Bunnie recounts. “Just didn’t realize it would hurt like this today.”

• Bunnie’s father was diagnosed with cancer in 2022.
• He battled his illness privately for a year, but as his cancer progressed, he told Bunnie he was sick and she moved him from Texas to Tennessee in order to be more involved in his health care.
• He entered hospice last November, but made remarkable health strides while receiving palliative care.
• Bunnie has said that she and her dad had a falling-out shortly before his death. She pulled out all the stops to try to get to him before he died — including booking a private jet — but ultimately was unable to make it there before he died.

Bunnie’s mother died in 2022. Jelly Roll’s father died several years ago, but his mom still lives in Tennessee.