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Podcasts get famous people to open up in ways that they won’t in mainstream interviews. As many of you pointed out the other day, Keanu Reeves isn’t always the most forthcoming network talk show guest, but when he appeared on New Heights, he transformed into a completely different person. Enter Jelly Roll, who appeared on the Human School Podcast this week and had a deep moment of self-confession. While chatting with Miles Adcox, Jelly admitted to cheating on his wife, Bunnie Xo, in 2018, calling it one of the “worst moments” of his adulthood.
“I don’t talk about this publicly at all,” Jelly Roll confessed on the Oct. 21 episode of the Human School Podcast, “but one of the worst moments of my adulthood was when I had an affair on my wife.”
The 40-year-old (real name Jason Bradley DeFord) still feels disappointed in himself, adding, “It was the first time that I was like, ‘I really can’t get this right at all. I know I’m in love with this woman.’ It was just such a—just really, really, really blew me back.”
“I did a lot of work to repair that relationship,” Jelly Roll continued. “The repair has been special. And we’re stronger than we could have ever been.”
And although the Grammy nominee—who is dad to daughter Bailee Ann, 17, and son Noah, 9, from previous relationships—wished that he and Bunnie’s “story would’ve went in the way that it never had an affair,” he is “proud of who we are today.”
And as Jelly Roll noted, much of his behavior at the time of his affair was influenced by the crowd he was surrounding himself with.
“I was hanging around a bunch of people that were cheating on their wives,” he said, explaining that he’d previously experienced similar situations. “When I was doing cocaine, I was hanging around a bunch of people that were doing cocaine. When I was drinking a lot, I was hanging around a lot of people that were drinking a lot.”
But the “Amen” singer often felt pressure to keep those friendships—even if the person was a “s–tty human”—because of how long he’d been able to maintain the relationship.
“I used to be proud of long-standing friendships just because they had a number attached to ‘em,” he added. “Horrible humans. But I would just be proud to say, ‘That dude’s been with me 12 years.’”
Now, however, Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo (real name Alyssa DeFord) surround themselves with people who uplift them and make them better.
As Jelly shared, “I wanted to be friends with people I wanted to be like.”
Bunnie and Jelly had only been married for two years when this went down. I’m not making light of their relationship, but their marriage was new enough that Bunnie could have cut her losses. I know this is a very unpopular opinion, but I am of the belief that while “once a cheater always a cheater” is often the case, there are circumstances where people can grow and learn if they’re willing to put in the work.
Jelly Roll is saying all of the right things when it comes to owning up to the psychology behind cheating, but I have to side-eye that he’s blaming it on other people. At the end of the day, it was still his choice to step out. He made that decision himself, and I hope he’s seeing a therapist to continue to work through his demons. Also, I hope Jelly gave Bunnie a head’s up that he would be turning their private life into public record. Revealing all of this when no one was publicly asking for it feels like a pretty wild choice.
Note by CB: Bunnie has defended staying with Jelly. She responded to a comment telling her to leave him and reposted it on her Instagram stories. She wrote:
“It actually takes a stronger woman to face pain head-on, do the work, and rebuild with the man she loves — instead of running or gossiping. Growth isn’t weakness, it’s grace. But not everyone’s built for that kind of strength. I pray you never have to feel that pain bc you’re judging another woman’s life.”
Bunnie also posted this segment of Jelly’s interview to her story and wrote over it “whole story is in the book, drops 2/10/26.” Bunnie’s biography Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic, comes out in February.
I can’t believe more than one woman wants to sleep with that guy.
Was thinking the same thing and then LOL’d when I saw your comment.
Right?
Tale as old as time: he has money and is other famous people adjacent.
Jelly Roll! BUNNIE XO!
That’s all I need to know.
From what I’ve seen, most marriages that involve cheating do eventually lead to divorce. In most cases where the husband cheated, the wife usually leaves the marriage in under a year so pretty quickly. In other cases, it might be several years (sometimes decades) before the other person finally decides to leave. Sometimes there is a long separation before divorce and when that happens I consider the marriage over (see Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith, they’ve been separated for years and I don’t consider them together anymore).
Every couple does what’s best for them even if I don’t understand the ones who decide to stay. Victoria and David Beckham are still together for now and I know there’s other examples out there. But if a couple does divorce even a long time after cheating, it’s never surprising.
Her response is terrible. Staying with a cheater does not make you stronger. She phrases it as though she’s superior to the women who cut their losses and moved on. If she wants to try again, that’s her choice, but I feel confident from my own life experience saying 99% of women should just leave. Very few men turn it around for life, and a man that cheats usually has other sucky qualities you’ll get to put up with until they cheat again down the road. Also, I strongly dislike the blame shift he is doing – he is clearly a follower.
Does he take responsibility for anything? Are mistakes always somebody else’s fault? Notice how even his change to ‘good’ choices is because of another person (Bunnie)
Appreciate what she says about grace in forgiveness and doing the work together, as well as being mindful of judging another woman’s life choices.
Surprising he would be so open about something deeply personal and painful for his wife. He seems to be owning it while also not taking full personal accountability, which could be problematic and indicative of repeating patterns down the road…
While infidelity would be a deal breaker for me, I know a few couples who have survived it and grown from it. Wish these two all the best.
“Surprising he would be so open about something deeply personal and painful for his wife.”
She has a book coming out. This is promotion.
Ah, that makes sense. Didn’t know that, thanks for sharing.
Leaving someone who betrays you is NOT “running,” nor is it in any way weak. She is judging the same way she fears being judged. Just say, “I decided to stay,” instead of claiming to be stronger than others who nope out of blatant disrespect.
“… not everyone’s built for that kind of strength.” If she’s talking about cheaters, then she is right.
I think that what he’s said is very appropriate. He was hanging with cheaters who normalized the behavior, and he needed to cut them out the way he cut out his co-substance users. When he says “it blew me back,” he’s saying it was devastating to his self image. He’s doing the work
I do think there are circumstances where couples can put in the work, grow, learn and weather the infidelity. My parents dealt with it. They married young, had four kids, a home and life, a large friend group and meaningful work and other interests. They had a pretty strong partnership, but over the years it was tried and tested in a number of ways, as most relationships are.
My father started an affair with a co-worker (younger but not by that much) and my mother found out, as did the rest of us. I was the youngest and in college at the time. I wanted her to leave him, but her marriage was very important to her. He was her person. He ended the affair and re-committed himself to his marriage and family. They stayed together until he died at age 80.
I feel like while cheating is always wrong, it’s not a mistake that always spells the death knell for a marriage. Everyone has to do what’s right for them.
Why are we even worried about these two people? Have people forgotten her whole Wade Wilson situation?
Sorry, I was a high school teacher for many years. When a kid’s mother came in for anything he/she got in trouble for, they’d always blame the friends who were “bad influences.” Cannot believe that Jelly Roll, at his age, would pull out that ridiculous lie (no dean or teacher ever believed the mom). He must take responsibility and “do the work” too. And I don’t know what “work” she’d have to do, because SHE did nothing wrong. It’s all on him, in my opinion.
The first couple of years of their marriage, I believe she was actively doing s*x work, which she was doing when they met. I’m not saying that to shame, but to say, they started from a different type of marriage than most people have. I’ve seen clips of her talking about their early marriage, before he had hits, and her work was funding his music. Several things are true at once- he clearly broke their rules, and they’ve had unconventional, unstable lives. They both seem honest enough, and both seem to be working on healing their respective issues. I put them in the same category I have for Terry Cruise – have overcome some truly significant, horrible things in their upbringing and young adulthood, and still have things they’re working through publicly, well past the age when most people have their shit together.