Jelly Roll is supportive of his wife, Bunnie Xo, but he didn’t want to read her memoir. At least, not until she was done writing it.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 01: Jelly Roll accepts the award for Best Contemporary Country Album for “Beautifully Broken” onstage during the 68th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 01, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
“While I was writing the book, he didn’t want to read it because he didn’t want to influence any of the chapters,” Bunnie told E! News. “He wanted it to be 100 percent authentically just me.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 17: Bunnie Xo appears on SiriusXM’s ‘The Howard Stern Show’ at SiriusXM Studios on February 17, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
Of course, once she had a completed draft, Jelly Roll was happy to read the book. In doing so, he learned some new things about his partner of ten years. “You got to imagine a husband reading his wife’s story,” Bunnie explained. “He even came to me after reading the first couple of chapters, he’s like, ‘I didn’t put it together because you had never really gone in depth and talked about your stepmother’s sister the way that you do in the book.’”
“He’s like, I correlated it finally, with little bits and pieces that you have dropped to me,’” Bunnie added. “It was little revelations for him too. Of like, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize it was that intense.’”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 01:{ } (L-R) Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo attend the 68th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 01, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Bunnie’s candid memoir, “Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic,” hit shelves on February 17 and details some of the darker periods of her life, including her decision to get sober and Jelly Roll’s affair. The memoir also discusses Bunnie, whose real name is Alisa DeFord, and Jelly Roll’s decision to pursue parenthood via surrogacy after raising two kids from Jelly Roll’s previous relationships.
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