Bunnie Xo’s relationship with Jelly Roll wasn’t always sweet — at times, it turned downright bitter.
In her new memoir, “Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic,” the “Dumb Blonde” podcast host lays bare her chaotic upbringing and the emotional highs and lows that defined the early years of her relationship with the singer-songwriter.
Long before they became one of country music’s most devoted couples, the pair weathered difficult truths — including the night Bunnie learned Jelly Roll’s ex-fling was waiting for him “in a hotel room down the street.”
“When I found out about it, I was devastated,” the 46-year-old, whose real name is Alyssa DeFord, told Fox News Digital. “I was hurt because I didn’t think he would be the one person to do that. I thought he was different. And at that moment, my heart was broken. But instead of getting mad at him, I asked myself, ‘Why do I keep attracting these kinds of men?’”
Bunnie admitted she hadn’t envisioned a conventional marriage. The couple tied the knot in 2016 during a whirlwind Las Vegas ceremony. She became a stepmom to the country singer’s daughter, Bailee, and son, Noah.
“I think a lot of people need to realize that coming into this marriage, we weren’t a traditional bride and groom,” she explained.
WATCH: JELLY ROLL ON HOW THE COUNTRY MUSIC COMMUNITY HAS CHANGED HIS LIFE
“I was a working girl, and he was an ex-drug dealer — a gangster-turned-struggling artist. There’s a different set of rules on the street than there are in what I’d call traditional marriages. If you’ve never lived that lifestyle, you’re not going to understand. But of course, cheating is wrong across the board — it doesn’t matter.”
In her book, Bunnie wrote that she and the Grammy-winning artist, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, agreed to a three-month separation. But to her surprise, Jelly Roll announced their breakup on Instagram.
“Are you f—ing kidding me?” she wrote. “We had an agreement…. Folks started DM’ing me on social media, telling me that J was with his ex-fling. The pieces started to fit together, and it became easier to disconnect from him…. I went completely silent and didn’t reach out to J or answer any calls.”
Shortly after, Bunnie wrote, Jelly Roll released his 2018 album, “Waylon & Willie II.”
“Have you ever listened to those songs?” she wrote. “Go give it a listen, and you’ll clearly hear a man smack-dab in the middle of an affair, pouring his guilt into lyrics…. To this day, I still hate most of the songs on that album, and I can’t listen to it all the way through.”
Looking back, Bunnie told Fox News Digital there were many reasons her initial “fairy tale” had become a nightmare.
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“It’s not so much what was going on in our marriage,” she said. “It was more of my husband had a hard time letting go of the past. I had a hard time letting go of the past. We also didn’t really think the relationship was going to work.
“I think a lot of it boiled down to self-worth on both parts. My husband didn’t think he’d ever meet a woman who really loved him for him and just wanted to see him succeed without some of them wanting to change him…. And I had brought so much baggage into the relationship.”
“I had come out of a really abusive relationship,” she reflected. “The first man I ever saw cheat was my father. So I just didn’t really believe in traditional marriage at the same time either. There were just so many factors of why things happened the way they did.”
Still, Bunnie said she was “ready for a change.” So was Jelly Roll, 41.
The two sought couples therapy to save their marriage. A “screaming match” broke out instead.
“If I could just paint the scene for you, it’s a husband-and-wife marriage counseling couple,” Bunnie told Fox News Digital.
“We’re like, ‘OK, we’re going to come in here, we’re going to learn so much, we’re going to get the tools to have a real relationship.’ We were never taught on either side of our families how to love properly. And we’re like, ‘We’re going to go in here and do this.’ That’s why we got a guy and a girl, because nobody’s going to be able to side with the other person. It’s going to be an equal opportunity employment moment.”
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“We went in there, and this poor couple had no idea what they had stepped into,” she continued. “It was stepping on a grenade. We were just screaming at each other. There was just so much anger, so much hurt, so much pain from both ends. We left that therapy session that day, and I was like, ‘This is it. We’re never going to be together again.’ And I think he felt the same way too.”
But they weren’t ready to walk away for good. What began as heartbreak ultimately turned into a promise of commitment, she revealed.
“We ended up coming back together,” said Bunnie. “We were like, ‘I want to grow. I don’t want to be this person. I choose you. I’m going to become everything that you’ve ever wanted me to be.’”
“I’m going to be a wife, and he’s going to become everything I ever wanted him to be; a husband and a father to the kids,” she shared. “We just made that decision from then on to just be better humans and to break every generational curse that we had ever inherited. I was ready for a change. So was he. So we set out together to heal and grow together.”
“We learned that marriage is not one-size-fits-all,” Bunnie reflected. “Each person and each relationship is completely different than the next person’s. But you do have to wake up and choose that person even on days that you don’t like them.”
WATCH: JELLY ROLL REVEALS THE SECRET TO HIS STRONG MARRIAGE TO BUNNIE XO
In 2023, the couple renewed their vows at the same Las Vegas chapel where they were married. Bunnie said she and her husband make the choice every day to stay dedicated to each other. That devotion to each other remains strong.
“I’ve seen 10 different versions of my husband in 10 years, and he’s seen probably four different versions of me,” said Bunnie. “I’ve improved on things that I have wanted to improve personally, but I also think we just love each other for who we are — the good, the bad, the ugly.”
“We don’t judge each other,” she said. “There’s no judgment in this house. I know everything about my husband, and he knows everything about me. No matter how hard it gets, we face things head-on. We call it ‘getting into the foxhole.’ When it’s time, we hunker down and get through life — together.”
