Bunnie Xo is confronting swirling speculation head-on, directly addressing persistent rumours that her marriage to country music superstar Jelly Roll is an open arrangement. In a remarkably candid interview, she simultaneously admits there was a significant overlap between the beginning of their romantic relationship and her previous career as an escort. These explosive revelations arrive just ahead of the publication of her highly anticipated memoir, titled Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic, which chronicles her turbulent journey from a troubled adolescence to becoming one half of country music's most unconventional and celebrated love stories.
A Past Laid Bare
Long before the world knew her as Bunnie Xo, she was Alisa DeFord—a homeless fourteen-year-old navigating the harsh streets of Las Vegas. Her early life was marked by profound struggle, including battles with drug addiction, survival of domestic abuse, and seven arrests between 1999 and 2006. She eventually found work as an escort, a chapter of her life she has now disclosed continued into the initial stages of her relationship with Jelly Roll. "He would be on tour and I would book dates while he was on the road," she explained to Extra. "He just always respected what I did as a hustler and I always respected what he did, and we both have never tried to change each other."
Defining a 'Free, Not Open' Marriage
Directly countering the gossip about an open marriage, Bunnie Xo insists their relationship is fundamentally different. She characterised their union as "free, but not open," and clarified for the public, "It's completely closed now, in case anybody wants to know." She elaborated on the early challenges they faced, stemming from their difficult upbringings. "When we first got together, coming from the background that I came from... watching my own father not be able to have a solid relationship. My husband was raised in a home where... we were not taught how to love properly," she shared.
Their initial approach was born from a desire to avoid future hurt. "We just said, 'Hey, look, if you're out on the road and you meet somebody, just tell me about it. I don't want to find out about it later.' It wasn't like we were swingers… It was just more fluid," Bunnie recounted. This arrangement, she stressed, was a phase of honesty rather than promiscuity, born from a mutual disbelief in traditional monogamy at that time.
A New Chapter of Health and Family
Now, nearly a decade into their marriage and raising Jelly Roll's son Noah and daughter Bailee, the couple is looking toward expanding their family. Bunnie confirmed they plan to have a baby via IVF, stating emphatically, "I will tell you that we will have a baby. We're excited. We both have baby fever." This future planning coincides with a transformative period in their personal lives, largely driven by Jelly Roll's monumental weight loss journey.
Intimacy Transformed by Weight Loss
Bunnie revealed that the couple previously navigated significant intimacy challenges before Jelly Roll, now 41, lost approximately 300 pounds. "We always had a sex life, but there were mountains and valleys that we had to go through, especially when he was so big," she told Us Weekly. The transformation has been profound. She describes his "new zest for life" as "so childlike and just giddy," allowing her to see him "be the man that I always saw that he was."
Jelly Roll himself has been open about the physical and emotional impact of his weight loss, which he achieved without using popular GLP-1 medications. He disclosed that early blood tests revealed low testosterone, which severely affected his sex life. "You can’t get it up without T," he confessed. "I was married to a smoke show, and I was still struggling." He now undergoes testosterone replacement therapy and celebrates a revitalised dynamic with his wife. "Now it’s a totally different thing. I’m chasing her around the house... I’m like a teenage kid again!" he said joyfully.
Looking Forward
Jelly Roll's health journey, documented in the short film A Year for a Life, saw him lose 275 pounds since 2020, describing his current existence as "a dramatically different world." He has even set and achieved ambitious public goals, including featuring on the cover of Men's Health magazine. Through all these changes—past struggles, personal revelations, and physical transformations—Bunnie Xo and Jelly Roll present a portrait of a marriage that has evolved from a place of raw honesty and mutual respect into a strengthened, joyful partnership focused on family and future happiness.
