{"id":66756,"date":"2026-06-16T20:16:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T20:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/16\/jelly-roll-and-bunnie-xos-relationship-timeline-wedding-to-divorce\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T20:16:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T20:16:33","slug":"jelly-roll-and-bunnie-xos-relationship-timeline-wedding-to-divorce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/16\/jelly-roll-and-bunnie-xos-relationship-timeline-wedding-to-divorce\/","title":{"rendered":"Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo’s Relationship Timeline: Wedding to Divorce"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tAfter 10 years of marriage, Jelly Roll<\/a> and Bunnie Xo<\/a> are getting divorced<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two have been practically inextricable over the past decade as Jelly Roll (real name Jason DeFord) became one of the biggest country stars<\/a> on the planet, and Bunnie (Alyssa DeFord) became a popular podcaster. Throughout this time, Jelly and Bunnie exhibited a remarkable candor while talking about themselves and each other, whether discussing the ups and downs of their relationship, the nitty-gritty details of their sex lives, or their complicated pasts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tJelly Roll often credited Bunnie with changing the course of his life, including at the Grammys<\/a> earlier this year while accepting the award for Best Contemporary Country Album<\/a>. \u201cI want to thank my beautiful wife,\u201d he said during his speech. \u201cI would have never changed my life without you. I would have ended up dead or in jail. I would have killed myself if it wasn\u2019t for you and Jesus. I thank you for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBunnie, for her part, told People<\/a> <\/em>earlier this year, \u201cWhen you are with somebody for a long time, you are going to have to love them at their lowest. And I truly believe that true love is not about so much as accepting things that you shouldn\u2019t, but I do think that everybody deserves a second chance. Loving somebody at their lowest is one of the most beautiful things you can do, especially if they bloom and they blossom like my husband has.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDetails about the couple\u2019s divorce \u2014 and the reasons behind it \u2014 remain unclear (and reps for both did not immediately return requests for comment). Based on their past openness, one can potentially assume the full story will spill out soon, but until then here\u2019s a look back at Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo\u2019s relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\tMeet Cute\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tJelly Roll and Bunnie Xo met in 2015 at a concert in Las Vegas, when Jelly was opening for the country rap duo Moonshine Bandits. In her memoir, Stripped Down<\/em><\/a>, Bunnie recalled being \u201cmesmerized\u201d after Jelly introduced himself, adding, \u201cThis man was not <\/em>my type. But shaking his hand felt like every star in the sky collided. My soul recognized his. It was as if I\u2019d been looking for him my entire life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\tAt the time, Jelly Roll was an aspiring musician with a bunch of mixtapes, collaborative projects, and one proper studio album to his name. He also had a checkered past, having spent time in prison during his early twenties on drug and robbery charges. Those experiences had inspired him to pursue music, but he\u2019d yet to secure his big break.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for Bunnie, she endured a difficult, destabilizing, and abusive childhood. As an adult, she worked as a stripper, before becoming a high-end escort. She frequently described<\/a> sex work as \u201cmy way of taking my power back\u201d after being sexually abused and raped when she was younger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBunnie\u2019s career in sex work didn\u2019t phase Jelly Roll, either \u2014 in fact, he barely understood what it meant to be a high-end escort. \u201cWhen I met her, I was living out of a \u201996 van and I was doing $100 a night shows,\u201d Jelly Roll said in a 2022<\/a> interview with Bert Kreischer, adding: \u201cI was dead broke, and she just kind of took to me. She was really making money in the sex work industry, like real money. I didn\u2019t know that existed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWhirlwind Romance and Vegas Wedding\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tNot long after they met, Jelly Roll invited Bunnie to join him on tour. She described it in her memoir as \u201cthe most intense yet awesome way to begin a relationship,\u201d though she also had some concerns as she was just getting out of a difficult second marriage. \u201cI needed to be single and do things on my own,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI needed to fall in love with myself and heal. But along came that sweet-talking country boy and I swooned.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tIn 2016, at another show in Las Vegas that Jelly Roll was playing, he asked her to marry him. His exact words were reportedly, \u201cWill your fine ass marry my white trash ass tonight in Las Vegas?\u201d They tied the knot at a Sin City chapel soon after the proposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\tEarly Years and Struggles\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tJelly Roll often credited Bunnie with being a crucial anchor in his life. As she continued her career in sex work, Bunnie helped Jelly Roll finance musical projects like 2017\u2019s Addiction Kills<\/em>, and secure custody of his daughter from another marriage. Tearing up in a 2023 interview<\/a>, Jelly Roll recalled how Bunnie also helped him get a condo so that his daughter could have a place to live and go to a good school.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ll never forget, Bunnie looked at me and, man it makes me emotional, she said, \u2018No matter what happens with us, I\u2019m gonna help you get this little girl,\u2019\u201d Jelly recalled. \u201cAnd I was like, man, what character\u2026 Because dude, I\u2019m broke. I can\u2019t afford the lawyer, I can\u2019t afford anything. What am I gonna do, put the kid in a van? And Bunnie\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019ll help you.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBut there were other challenges, too. In her memoir, Bunnie detailed a tumultuous period as she and Jelly Roll bounced between Las Vegas and Nashville and tried to get a handle on their relationship and personal demons. Bunnie was trying to kick cocaine and pills, too, and cited the custody battle over Jelly Roll\u2019s daughter, Bailee, as one of the reasons she wanted to get sober.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBunnie also wrote that she and Jelly Roll fought a lot during this time, and he once cheated on her with an ex. The couple briefly split<\/a> in 2018, but counseling finally helped bring some stability to their relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy husband and I dug deep into the generational toxic traits we\u2019d grown up with,\u201d she wrote. \u201cAnd we talked so many times about how we don\u2019t want to just do what we were taught. Now, we were in this\u00a0together<\/em>. It finally felt so good to have my best friend back and be on this journey to be better humans. When I think back on it, we just made a vow to change. And we did. No matter how hard it got. No matter what the other person said in therapy, we were finally both fully committed to working on ourselves together and separately.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2025, Jelly Roll called<\/a> his infidelity \u201cone of the worst moments\u201d of his life. He continued: \u201cI did a lot of work to repair that relationship, you know what I mean? The repair has been special. And we\u2019re stronger than we could have ever been. I wish our story would have went in a way that it never had an affair, but \u2014 and I\u2019m in no way glad it happened \u2014 but man, I\u2019m proud of who we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\tBreakthrough Moments\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tIn 2020, Jelly Roll\u2019s music career finally started to take off. Over the next few years, hits like \u201cSave Me,\u201d \u201cSon of a Sinner,\u201d and \u201cNeed a Favor\u201d turned him into the one of the biggest country stars in the world. In November 2022, the couple made their red carpet debut at the CMA Awards. A few months later, in April 2023, Jelly Roll scored his first professional awards, winning three prizes at the CMT Music Awards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cA man that was told no every corner he turned only to hit \u2018em with that Nashville shuck & come out on top every time,\u201d Bunnie wrote in a celebratory Instagram<\/a> post. \u201cI always tell you you have a horseshoe stuck up your ass, but that isn\u2019t it baby. This is sheer will to spread light, to move mountains, to touch broken souls with your voice, to break generational traumas & set examples for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the same time, Bunnie Xo was carving out a new career path of her own. In 2019, she launched a podcast, Dumb Blonde<\/em>, at her kitchen table, which she partly funded through sex work and a new OnlyFans account. By 2022, the podcast was such a success that she was able to quit sex work and shut down her OnlyFans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2023, Jelly Roll shared a \u201cBunnie appreciation post\u201d on Instagram<\/a>, writing, \u201cI watch what this woman has overcame and her passion and determination to be something better has inspired me from the moment I met her. She saved me in one of the darkest times of my life. She has been nothing but supportive.\u201d And of her podcasting success, Jelly Roll stressed that Bunnie had done it all on her own: \u201cShe didn\u2019t want to be just \u2018Jelly Roll\u2019s wife\u2019 she wanted to build her own empire to empower women and share her story in hopes that it could motivate others to believe that they could change their lives and be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking with The New York Times<\/em><\/a> in 2023, Jelly Roll recalled the conversations he and Bunnie would have about the day she\u2019d get to quit sex work. \u201cWell, we had the conversation early, when we were dreamers laying in bed together and I was really<\/em> broke and she was pretty broke,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was our dream. To see it come to fruition has been unbelievable. It\u2019s a modern American fairy tale. It\u2019s this kind of white trash-y one, but it\u2019s poetic and beautiful in this [fucked] up way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\tVow Renewals\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tIn 2023, seven years after their wedding in Vegas, Jelly Roll and Bunnie returned to the same chapel to renew their vows. \u201c7 years ago my wife and stumbled into a little chapel in Las Vegas,\u201d Jelly Roll wrote on Instagram<\/a>. \u201c7 years later we walked into that same little chapel and renewed our vows \u2026 my only regret on the night we got married was I never got to see her in a dress\u2026. We made that right. I may have never gave my wife the wedding she truly deserved but I plan on giving her the life she deserves for the rest of it. I love you more anything mama bear. You are my anchor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBunnie added<\/a> in her own post: \u201cBefore we stumbled in that chapel, you grabbed my hands & looked me straight in the eyes & said, \u2018Bunnie, our lives won\u2019t always be like this. You won\u2019t have to do what you do for much longer, we\u2019re going to figure this out. I promise you.\u2019 I had no idea what the world had in store for us, but I didn\u2019t care as long as I had you by my side to conquer it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\tFinal Act\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tBy all accounts, Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo\u2019s relationship seemed as strong and secure as ever in the years leading up to their divorce. Jelly Roll\u2019s continued to turn out hits, while Dumb Blonde<\/em> remained a very popular podcast. Jelly Roll also got his old drug and robbery convictions pardoned<\/a> in Tennessee, and lost several hundred pounds. (\u201cHe was beautiful before, but now I catch myself drooling looking at him; he looks so good!\u201d Bunnie told People<\/em><\/a> earlier this year.) \u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe couple were also working to expand their family. As they raised Jelly\u2019s two kids from other relationships, Bailee and Noah, they revealed in 2024 that they were trying to have a child through in vitro fertilization. However, it does not appear that the couple\u2019s efforts were successful. In August 2025, Bunnie said<\/a> on her podcast that she\u2019d \u201cbeen on IVF meds for fucking six months and going through heartbreak and fucking so much shit.\u201d Earlier this year, she called<\/a> IVF \u201cone of the hardest things I\u2019ve ever had to go through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\tDivorce\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tThough the news just broke on Monday, June 15, Jelly Roll reportedly filed for divorce from Bunnie in May in a Williamson County, Tennessee, court. According to court docs, Jelly Roll cited \u201cirreconcilable differences,\u201d saying he and Bunnie were \u201cunable to live together successfully as Husband and Wife.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n