Country Music star Jelly Roll is one of the biggest names in the entertainment industry right now, but the journey hasn’t been easy, and his wife of several years has been his biggest supporter through it all.
Jelly Roll’s wife is named Alisa DeFord, but she’s much better known as Bunnie XO, a podcaster and YouTuber who used to run an Only Fans account. Bunnie XO talks often and openly about her work in the sex industry, and her days of being an escort in Las Vegas.
How did Bunnie XO and Jelly Roll meet?
Bunnie and Jelly Roll had mutual friends and in 2015, she attended one of his shows in Las Vegas, which is when they first met and hit it off. Jelly Roll, however, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, has told a humorous, semi-fictionalized version of the story, placing their meeting at a strip club called “Chip N Whales,” where he performed as a plus size stripper. He later admitted that was made up, and that they actually met backstage after he performed — as a fully clothed country artist — in a place called the Las Vegas Country Saloon.
Bunnie has said that she “fell in love with the saddest eyes in the room.” She had just left an abusive relationship when she started seeing Jelly Roll, and quickly fell for the then-struggling musical artist.
At the time, Jelly Roll was living in his van, and when he a had a video shoot scheduled in Vegas, Bunnie suggested that he stay with her in her Vegas home. It was the beginning of a whirlwind romance that led to a marriage proposal one year later, in 2016. After Jelly Roll proposed, Bunnie not only said yes, but she told him that they should marry that very night. Hey, they were in Vegas, so they did!
Jelly Roll has praised Bunnie for being a stepmother to his children, saying it takes a special person to help raise someone else’s child.
On her podcast Dumb Blonde, Bunnie said that the reason why, after DeFord proposed, she suggested they just get married that same night is because “I just think when you know, you know.”
Bunnie on her work in the sex industry
Bunnie has explained that Jelly Roll has never asked her to stop living her own life, despite the type of work she does. She chooses to make her own money, and doesn’t want to be reliant on her husband. She stated, “When I married him, I refused to give up my independence and rely solely on him and, to be honest, he never once asked me to. He knew how important it was to me to make my own money. But he did always say, ‘One day baby you won’t have to do this anymore.’”
Bunnie posted on social media an explanation as to why she deleted her Only Fans account recently and not several years ago, considering her relationship with Jelly Roll. In the post, she wrote, “A year ago I retired from the SW (sex work) industry. I was SO scared to let go of that part of my life & leave behind the money I was making — wasn’t sure how I’d make up that part of my business. But I had faith & let God have it & he made sure I made it back 10 fold.”
What some of those fans may not know, however, is that Bunnie XO and Jelly Roll have an open marriage. Bunnie noted on her podcast, “We allow each other to be who we want to be. If I want to sleep with another guy, I can go sleep with another guy. Like, that’s not a problem.”
Bunnie XO’s childhood
When Bunnie was just a baby, she was abandoned by her mother, and when her father remarried, she had an abusive relationship with her stepmother. So, she ran away at age 14. As she detailed in one of her podcast episodes, “I worked regular jobs. I literally was in real estate. I actually was a lifeguard. I was only 14 f***ing years old.”
A few years later, when she saw her friend making significant money as an exotic dancer, she decided to try it. Months later, after making enough money, she quit her other jobs and worked only as an exotic dancer and escort. “Literally, I would make $40,000 a night. I had sugar daddies who gave me a half-a-million dollars. I’ve had cars bought for me, you know, diamonds, jewelry.”
With her troubled childhood behind her, her relationship with Jelly Roll, and her successful podcast, Bunnie is much happier with her life now than ever before.
Jelly Roll told Billboard magazine that his wife is “a beacon of change in my life,” and that his world would be a lot different without her.