A birth announcement from jail, splitting dad time with a legion of fans, and a son's debut on TikTok. Jelly Roll's career has taken off, but it will never eclipse the love he has for his kids.
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00:00A birth announcement from jail, splitting dad time with a legion of fans, and a son's
00:05debut on TikTok, Jelly Roll's career has taken off, but it will never eclipse the love he
00:09has for his kids.
00:12Run-ins with the law were common for Jelly Roll growing up.
00:15As he told The New York Times,
00:16"...I got caught with a cannabis charge in Antioch and a pack of cigarettes as a juvenile.
00:21They cited me, and the cop trusted me to take the citation to my family and go to court,
00:26which of course I didn't.
00:27So the police had to show up and haul me to jail.
00:30That was at 13."
00:31By the age of 25, Jelly Roll had been incarcerated around 40 times.
00:36One of the most serious charges against him came at the age of 23, when he was once again
00:40imprisoned for dealing drugs.
00:42On May 22, 2008, Jelly Roll was in his jail cell when he was informed that he had become
00:47father to a baby girl, Bailey Ann.
00:49The shame he felt at being absent for her birth was the impetus for him to reform.
00:53"...He goes, you had a little girl today.
00:55Your daughter was born this morning.
00:58I go to the door as he walks away, I beat on the door, I go, hey, hey, you know her
01:01name?"
01:02The changes he made as a result of Bailey Ann's birth have helped to define the Jelly
01:06Roll legend.
01:07Addiction is one of the major themes of Jelly Roll's work.
01:10His personal experiences around drug use have provided material for his lyrics and helped
01:15his music to connect with millions of listeners who've had similar experiences.
01:19As Jelly Roll has reformed his life and is now in recovery, some critics and fans have
01:23struggled to see how, as an artist, he could continue telling such dark personal stories.
01:28Speaking to The New York Times in 2024, Jelly Roll made it clear that the stories he tells
01:32aren't exclusively his own.
01:34Many of his fans now seek him out to share their own experiences with him, and he also
01:38takes inspiration from the stories he hears at addiction support groups.
01:42He is also concerned with the role addiction has played in the lives of his extended family,
01:46including the mother of Bailey Ann, who herself has spent time behind bars.
01:50Though her mother has achieved periods of sobriety since giving birth, she has since
01:54relapsed.
01:55In 2017, amid the turmoil, Jelly Roll and Bunny XO were granted custody of Bailey Ann.
02:01While Jelly Roll has shown himself to be a committed role model for his teenage daughter,
02:05Bailey Ann has also formed a close relationship with Bunny.
02:08The couple have supported Bailey Ann in trying to rekindle her relationship with her biological
02:12mother where possible, though the bond remains strained.
02:15"...like, your biggest accomplishment, like, what have y'all done as a couple that you
02:19think is, like, the best thing you've done together?"
02:21What's clear from Jelly Roll and Bunny XO's social media channels and numerous podcast
02:26appearances is that they are loving parents who enjoy a great degree of mutual understanding
02:31and affection with the singer's daughter.
02:32Indeed, in many ways their life together appears idyllic, particularly when one remembers the
02:37difficulties the family has had to overcome to get to where it is today.
02:41Jelly Roll's recent commercial success has come after a great deal of adversity, but
02:45even as his career was beginning to take off, problems persisted, especially for Bailey
02:49Ann.
02:50Speaking to Taste of Country, Jelly Roll has admitted that she was bitter at first about
02:54his growing star stature because it meant that he was less present in her life.
02:58As he explained,
02:59"...she looked at this thing like, this thing's really cool and it helps out family and all
03:03this other stuff, but this dude is also gone 200 days a year because of it."
03:07However, he claims that Bailey Ann is now happy for his success and enjoys the high
03:11life that comes with it, which includes flights to visit her father around the country while
03:15he's on tour.
03:162016 was a big year for Jelly Roll.
03:19For starters, his family grew even bigger.
03:21On August 23, his son Noah Buddy was born.
03:25News of the arrival first came on Facebook, with details later emerging that the mother
03:29of the child wasn't Bunny XO, but a woman from a previous relationship.
03:33Later that month, Jelly Roll married Bunny, just one year after meeting her at one of
03:37his shows in Las Vegas.
03:38The singer proposed onstage at a Deftones concert, and the two eloped that same night
03:43to have a Vegas wedding.
03:44While Jelly Roll is present in Noah's life, the child primarily lives with his mother
03:48and custodial parent, Melissa.
03:50Still, Jelly Roll, Bunny, and Noah's mother reportedly get along very well.
03:55Jelly Roll was a comparatively obscure musician when he first shared news of his son's birth.
03:59Unsurprisingly, his phenomenal rise to the peak of country music fame has had repercussions
04:03for his private life.
04:05Yet it appears that the singer and his family have been level-headed in their approach to
04:08finding themselves in the public eye.
04:10One example of this is Jelly Roll's decision to give Noah minimal exposure through his
04:14social media channels.
04:16He says this is out of respect for both his son and his son's mother, telling Taste of
04:20Country,
04:21"...I try not to get in the way of what she is building over there, and I never want to
04:24step on her toes with what she's doing with him, that I want to just respect that boundary."
04:29However, in 2023, shortly after Jelly Roll's commercial breakthrough, followers of the
04:33musician and his family were treated to a virtual meeting with Noah, who appeared in
04:37a short TikTok video alongside Bunny XO.
04:40Jelly Roll has explained that the video was shot when Noah was on vacation with them,
04:44and that Bunny got permission to post the video from Noah's birth mother.
04:48The six-year-old tells the family's followers that his favorite color is red, that he loves
04:52Pokemon and soccer, and that he would like a pet dog and a cat, among other endearing
04:57details.
04:58More recently, Noah has joined Bailey-Anne in making public appearances with Jelly Roll
05:02and Bunny XO.