Jelly Roll has been happily married to his wife Bunnie Xo for over a decade, but the country superstar has now opened up on the painful and heartbreaking decision to cheat on Bunnie. The pair tied the knot in 2014, and renewed their vows in 2023; Bunnie has been sharing the details of their IVF journey on social media for the past year, and they are also raising Jelly's daughter from former relationships. However, during a recent interview on the podcast Human School, Jelly has spoken about the the times in his life when he was not "being fruitful," and how it sowed deep trauma into his life.
"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," Jelly said. “Because it was the first time that I was like, 'I really can’t get this right at all. I know I’m in love with this woman. It just really, really blew me back."
He continued: "I did a lot of work to repair that relationship, you know what I mean? The repair has been special, and we’re stronger than we could have ever been. I wish our story would have went in a way that it never had an affair, but – and I’m in no way glad it happened – but man, I’m proud of who we are today."
Jelly, real name Jason DeFord, went on to acknowledge that his friendship group played a large role in his decision, and that drugs, alcohol and cheating was common among them all. "I was hanging around a bunch of people who were cheating on their wives," he said. "When I was doing cocaine, I was hanging around a bunch of people who were doing cocaine. When I was drinking a lot, I was hanging around a lot of people who were drinking a lot."
"And you don't know how to make friends in your late 30s, I had no frame of reference for that. I used to be proud of longstanding friendships just because they had a number attached to them," he shared. "Horrible humans, but I was proud to say, 'Dude's been with me 12 years'...That's ego stuff too."
Now stronger than ever, the pair are looking to expand their family, and Jelly has been open about his fitness journey, after he weighed in at 550 lbs at his heaviest. The father-of-two worked with trainers and nutritionists to achieve his incredible 200-lb weight loss, rather than relying on GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro.
"Every doctor I've talked to is for [Ozempic]," he said on wife Bunnie's Dumb Blonde podcast. "They said it helps. I was afraid of it…As a singer, few things scare me more than acid reflux. Like, you'll watch me get up out of a bed, I'll burp and wake up panicked, and go take something for it. You know? Because that stuff will just rip the vocal cords."
He added: "So I want to be very clear that I've done it naturally, but it wasn't out of stubbornness or trying to prove a point. If it helps you, go get it. But for me, I was just petrified of the side effects of it."
Instead, he worked with nutrition coach, Ian Lairos, and changed his diet to focus on protein-heavy meals, including breakfast bowl made with bell peppers, chicken sausage, potatoes and sauerkraut, sweet snacks including peanut butter cookie dough bites and sliced banana, and dinners of protein with veggies and healthy fats.