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Bunnie Xo said she was body shamed after gaining weight during her IVF journey
The podcaster reflected on the emotional toll of fertility treatments and urged others not to let online criticism get to them
Her comments come weeks after she revealed she and estranged husband Jelly Roll still plan to have a baby together despite their divorce
Bunnie Xo is reflecting on the hurtful comments she received about her body while undergoing IVF, saying the experience taught her not to let online criticism define her.
During the July 7 episode of her Dumb Blonde podcast, the podcaster, whose real name is Alisa Andrea DeFord, spoke with Baylen Dupree about their shared experiences with endometriosis, weight gain and the criticism they’ve faced online while navigating their health journeys.
Looking back on her own experience with fertility treatments, Bunnie Xo said undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) caused her to gain weight, prompting cruel comments from strangers on the internet.
Bunnie XO attends the “Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic” book tour at The Palazzo Theatre
Credit: Taylor Hill/Getty
“I know what it’s like to try to navigate that. As I was going through IVF, it put weight on me, and people would be like, ‘Oh, she’s bigger than her husband now,'” she said.
The podcaster, 46, said she found the criticism especially difficult given the physical demands of trying to have a child.
“You’re literally trying to make a baby with your body, and it’s like people just have no respect,” she said. “The internet is just so crazy, but I’ve learned that it’s just miserable people who have nothing better to do than just comment on other people’s lives. So you can’t ever let that get to you.”
The comments come weeks after Bunnie Xo shared that she and her estranged husband, Jelly Roll, are continuing their plans to have a child together despite their divorce.
During the June 18 episode of the Dumb Blonde podcast, Bunnie Xo said she and Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, had finalized their divorce in a matter of weeks but remained committed to their shared goal of becoming parents.
“We’re literally settling our divorce in like… We’ve done it in like, what? Three weeks? Two weeks?” she said at the time. “We’re still having a baby together.”
Calling themselves “the most unconventional couple” listeners have encountered, Bunnie Xo said she and the singer plan to co-parent moving forward.
“We’re going to co-parent together. J is my best friend. Like, this isn’t what you guys think this is. Nobody cheated on the other person. It’s literally just we served our purpose for each other,” she said.
She also revealed that their fertility journey had taken a significant emotional toll after they lost four embryos while trying to conceive together.
“It wrecked me emotionally, spiritually, physically,” she said, adding that both she and Jelly Roll, 41, underwent hormone treatments during the process. “In a way, I kind of think J and I are trauma-bonded.”
Bunnie Xo and Jelly Roll attend Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic Tour in Nashville, Tennessee
Credit: John Shearer/Getty
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Bunnie Xo previously wrote in her memoir Stripped Down, published in February, that she and Jelly Roll had found a surrogate and planned to continue their fertility journey using her eggs and his sperm. She wrote that they had been trying to have a child together since Oct. 31, 2019.
Despite the end of their marriage, Bunnie Xo said she remains focused on their shared dream of becoming parents.
“I’m so excited to live my life through a child’s eyes, which is why this baby journey, I’m not going to let it break me, and I’m not going to deter it,” she said. “And J has been so f—ing great about us still having a baby together and he wants the same thing. And we’re just going to raise little Nugget as one big happy family.”
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