Jelly Roll files for divorce from Bunnie XO after nearly a decade

Jelly Roll filed for divorce from his wife Bunnie Xo.

The country star filed the paperwork May 18 in Williamson County, Tennessee, according to court records viewed by Fox News Digital.

Jelly Roll listed the date of separation as May 9, noting irreconcilable differences.

Bunnie and Jelly Roll, whose real name is Alisa DeFord, married in a whirlwind ceremony in Las Vegas in August 2016 after meeting the previous year.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Jelly Roll representatives for comment.

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She became stepmother to the country singer’s daughter Bailee and son Noah.

Just a few months ago, Jelly Roll, 41, and Bunnie Xo, 46, showed off the PDA at the 2026 Grammy awards in February.

The couple had loving moments while walking on the red carpet and inside the venue.

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Jelly Roll also called him out on stage after he won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Country Album.

Bunnie previously described their up-and-down relationship in her memoir “Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic.”

The “Dumb Blonde” podcast host revealed her chaotic upbringing and the emotional ups and downs that defined the early years of her relationship with the singer-songwriter.

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Long before they became one of country music’s most closely watched couples, the duo confronted difficult realities; Including the night when Bunnie finds out Jelly Roll’s ex is waiting for her “in a hotel room down the street.”

Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo attend the 68th Annual Grammy Awards held at Crypto.com Arena on February 1, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for the Recording Academy)

“I was devastated when I found out,” he told Fox News Digital in February. “I was hurt because I didn’t think he was the only one who would do this. I thought he was different. And at that moment, my heart broke. But instead of getting angry at him, I asked myself the question: ‘Why do I keep attracting these types of men?'”

Bunnie admitted that she didn’t dream of a traditional marriage.

BUNNIE

“I think a lot of people need to understand going into this marriage that we’re not a traditional bride and groom,” she explained.

“I was a working girl and he was a former drug dealer turned gangster turned struggling artist. There are different rules on the street than what I call traditional marriages. If you’ve never lived that lifestyle, you wouldn’t understand. But of course, cheating is wrong in general, so it doesn’t matter.”

In the memoir, Bunnie also recalled learning about the alleged ex.

“Are you kidding me?” he wrote. “We had made a deal… People started messaging me on social media saying J was with his ex. The pieces started to fit together and it became easier to break away from him… I went completely silent and didn’t reach out to J or return any calls.”

Jelly Roll released the 2018 album “Waylon & Willie II” shortly after, Bunnie wrote.

Jelly Roll and Bunnie’s relationship had its ups and downs. (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

“Have you ever listened to these songs?” he wrote. “Go listen to it and you’ll clearly hear a man in the middle of a relationship pouring his guilt into his lyrics… To this day, I still hate most of the songs on that album and can’t listen to it all the way through.”

Looking back, Bunnie told Fox News Digital there were many reasons why her first “fairy tale” turned into a nightmare.

“What’s going on in our marriage isn’t that important,” he said. “My husband had a harder time letting go of the past. I had a harder time letting go of the past, too. We also didn’t think the relationship would really work.

“I think a lot of it has to do with the self-worth on both partners. My husband didn’t think he’d ever meet a woman who truly loved him for himself, and some just wanted to see him succeed without wanting to change him… And I had brought too much baggage into the relationship.”

“I had come out of a really abusive relationship,” she reflected. “The first man I saw cheating was my father. So I also didn’t really believe in traditional marriage. There were so many factors that led to things happening that way.”

Bunnie Xo spoke to Fox News Digital about their marriage in February. (Christopher Polk/Penske Media)

Still, Bunnie said she’s “ready for a change.” So is Jelly Roll.

The duo resorted to couples therapy to save their marriage. Instead a “screaming match” ensued.

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“If I could paint the scene for you, it would be a husband and wife couple doing marriage counseling,” Bunnie told Fox News Digital.

“We’re like, ‘Okay, we’ll come here, we’ll learn a lot, we’ll get the tools to build a real relationship.’ We were not taught how to love properly by either side of our families. So we said, ‘We’re going to come in here and do this.’ That’s why we have a boy and a girl, because no one can stand by the other. “It will be an equal opportunity employment moment.”

“We got there and this poor couple had no idea what they were stepping into,” he continued. “It was like stepping on a grenade. We were just yelling at each other. There was so much anger, so much hurt, so much pain on both sides. We left that therapy session that day and I said, ‘That’s it. We’ll never be together again.’ And I think he felt the same way.”

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Jelly Roll listed the breakup date as May 9. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for the TJ Martell Foundation)

“We’re finally back together,” Bunnie said. “We said, ‘I want to grow up. I don’t want to be this person. I choose you. I will be everything you want me to be.'”

“I will be a wife and he will be everything I want him to be: a husband and a father to the kids,” she shared. “From that moment on, we made this decision to become better people and break all the curses inherited from generation to generation. I was ready for change, and so was he. So we set out to heal and grow together.”

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“We’ve learned that marriage isn’t one-size-fits-all,” Bunnie reflected. “Every person and every relationship is completely different from the next person’s. But you have to wake up and choose that person, even on the days you don’t like them.”

The couple renewed their vows in the Las Vegas church, where they got married in 2023. Bunnie said she and her husband make the choice to stay committed to each other every day. He described their commitment to each other at the time as strong.

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“I’ve seen 10 different versions of my husband in 10 years, and he’s probably seen four different versions of me,” Bunnie said. “I improved the things I wanted to improve personally, but I also think we love each other for who we are: the good, the bad, the ugly.”

“We don’t judge each other,” he said. “There is no judgment in this house. I know everything about my husband, and he knows everything about me. No matter how hard it is, we face everything head on. We call it ‘getting in the trenches.’ When the time comes, we step back and get through life together.”

Fox News Digital’s Christina Dugan Ramirez and Larry Fink contributed to this post.