Jelly Roll has nothing but gratitude for the last four years of his life, but what some people might not expect is a lot of his biggest moments didn’t come without the help of his wife and love of his life Bunnie XO.
The 38-year-old Antioch, Tenn., native and his bride of nearly seven years sat down for an interview with Bussin’ With The Boys podcast and discussed how Bunnie had a significant hand in helping Jelly Roll gain custody of his daughter Bailee Ann.
“I’m Going To Do Everything I Can To Help You With This Little Girl”
Needless to say, recalling the memory of retrieving Bailee and realizing Bunnie’s selflessness and effort in the ordeal brought tears to Jelly Roll’s eyes.
“I’ll never forget this. Bunnie looked at me – and man, it makes me emotional,” Jelly Roll remembered of when he was in the fight of getting his child. “She said, ‘No matter what happens with us, I’m going to help you get this little girl.’ I was like, man, what character? You know what I mean? What character this woman has? She’s like, ‘Look. I’m not 100% sure I’m going to be with you, but I’m going to do everything I can to help you with this little girl.’”
Bunnie XO Completely Changed Jelly Roll And Bailee Ann’s Lives
Along with not having custody of his daughter, Jelly Roll remembers not having much of a leg to stand on when trying to reconcile his father/daughter relationship as he was out of money and didn’t have a place to live. He says he unloaded all of his worries on Bunnie, but throughout the situation, she remained positive. She also helped facilitate a proper residence for Jelly Roll and his daughter to live in while he continued to work toward a better life.
“I’m broke. I can’t afford the lawyer. I can’t afford anything. I’m like, ‘Dude, I can’t. What am I going to do? Put the kid in the van?’ Dude, I’m living out of like a ‘96 van, and Bunnie’s like, ‘I’ll help you,” Jelly Roll shared. “The first thing we have to do is get you somewhere to live in Nashville.’ I was like, ‘Well, I can’t put it in my name. I’m a felon. I don’t have enough proof of income to get her in the right school district.’ Bunnie is like, ‘Let’s just go get a condo. So you have a bedroom for her.’ I’m like, ‘All right, cool.’. So Bunnie comes down there. Well, then, we’re getting a condo.”
“It Spoke To My Heart”
At the time, Jelly Roll says he and Bunnie were in the initial stages of their relationship, and he wasn’t sure how she’d react to his personal woes. But, for her, troubles didn’t bother her one bit. She related to him after having had a tumultuous past of her own.
“It spoke to my heart because I’m a product of an addict. My dad was a musician and my mom was a stripper,” an equally emotional Bunnie said of her deep connection with Jelly Roll, who spent the majority of his youth in and out of the jail system and grew up with a mother that struggled with addiction. “I didn’t get to meet my real mother until I was 36 years old because she left me on a doorstep.”
Bunnie then added that Bailee’s mother, Felicia – who has since recovered – was also a drug addict, and seeing Bailee go through that wasn’t something she was going to let happen.
“When we went over to Baillee’s mom’s house, and this was in the midst of all of this, I walked in and Baillee didn’t even have a bed,” Bunnie recalled. “She was sleeping on a chair, and she was there taking care of her cousins, making them food, and literally, all she was doing was making them bread with peanut butter on them. It broke my heart.”
Jelly Roll And Bunnie Xo Have Full Custody Of Bailee Ann
With Bunnie XO’s assistance, Jelly Roll was able to gain custody of his daughter in 2016. Together, he and Bunnie have raised the little girl, who is now 14 years old.
“I was hanging on by a thread with dreams that didn’t look like it was coming…. I joke about it now because I didn’t cry for 34 years of my life. In the last four, I just can’t quit crying,” Jelly Roll shared. “So Bunnie bankrolled the whole sh– and she never talks about that. It’s a true story.”
In June, Jelly Roll released his debut country album, Whitsitt Chapel. He’ll embark on his headlining 44-date Backroad Baptism Tour on July 28.
