“It hurts”.
That’s what Jelly Roll’s wife, Bunnie XO, says in a promotional clip for this week’s episode of “Dumb Blonde.” In text overlaid on the clip, she promised: “I'm going on the podcast this week…I'm definitely going to ruffle some feathers and not stutter.”
Apparently, he is about to “explode” from the harassment.
“My husband quit the Internet because he was tired of being harassed about his damn weight,” she said. “And that makes me want to cry, because he is the sweetest angel baby.”
He noted that “the Internet” can say whatever it wants about a person and then say, “Well, you're a celebrity, you're supposed to be able to handle it. “Well, no, we’re not.”
“Sorry, I'm going to defend all the underdogs,” Bunnie said. “You will never intimidate me. You will never lie about me or my family. I will fight until the end”.
Jelly Roll, a self-proclaimed “natural extrovert” who was the Country Music Association's New Artist of the Year in 2023, is the man behind hits like “Need a Favor” and “Save Me.” The artist born Jason DeFord has been with Alyssa DeFord, also known as Bunnie XO, since they met at one of her shows in 2015. The couple married in 2016.
“My husband doesn't show it to you, but I'm going to have a very vulnerable moment here,” she said in the clip. “It hurts”.
Jelly Roll had mentioned his weight and hinted at saucy comments about it in a 2023 interview with The Times, where he talked about the reasons Nashville insiders initially told him no when he was trying to break into the country music scene.
“They said there was no way that country radio would feature an artist with tattoos on their face. They said I should be called Jason DeFord, as if the city needed another Jason. Someone told me I was too fat to be identifiable. They said it a little better. Not much… I mean, it’s hard to say it nicely.”
That said, the 39-year-old told People earlier this month that he was working on his fitness, had already lost about “70 pounds,” and planned to lose an additional 100 pounds or more.
“I'm running two to three miles a day, four to six days a week,” he said of training for an upcoming 5K race. “I'm doing 20 to 30 minutes in the sauna, six minutes in a cold bath every day. “I’m eating healthy right now.”
He added: “If I feel this good at this weight, man, I can only imagine how I'll feel when I go on tour.”
Jelly Roll's Beautifully Broken Tour across the United States kicks off Wednesday in Detroit with Warren Zeiders and Alexandra Kay opening. He is scheduled to play the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on September 6 and the Honda Center in Anaheim on September 7.
Meanwhile, the new episode of “Dumb Blonde” drops Wednesday across various podcast platforms.
