Country music star Jelly Roll has officially filed for divorce from his wife, Bunnie Xo. The popular singer filed the legal paperwork on May 18 in Williamson County, Tennessee, according to court records.
Jelly Roll listed the official date of separation as May 9. The multi-platinum artist cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for ending the marriage.
Bunnie Xo, whose real name is Alisa DeFord, tied the knot with Jelly Roll in August 2016 during a whirlwind Las Vegas ceremony. The couple originally met the prior year before embarking on their high-profile relationship.
The sudden filing comes just months after the couple showed heavy PDA during the 2026 Grammy Awards in February. The two appeared highly affectionate while walking the red carpet together and inside the venue.
Jelly Roll has filed for divorce from wife Bunnie XO after 10 years of marriage, TMZ reports.
(https://t.co/EXzdARSRup) pic.twitter.com/ze8lSa5FHf
— Pop Base (@PopBase) June 16, 2026
Jelly Roll, 41, even gave his wife a heartwarming shoutout on stage after winning the Grammy for Best Contemporary Country Album. The public display gave fans no indication of the brewing marital trouble.
Bunnie Xo, 46, previously opened up about their highly volatile, up-and-down relationship in her raw memoir, "Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic." The popular podcast host laid bare her chaotic upbringing and the emotional highs and lows that defined their early years together.
Long before becoming one of country music’s most closely watched couples, the pair weathered difficult personal truths. Bunnie recalled the painful night she learned Jelly Roll's ex-fling was waiting for him down the street.
"When I found out about it, I was devastated," Bunnie said in a candid February interview. "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," she continued. "But instead of getting mad at him, I asked myself, ‘Why do I keep attracting these kinds of men?’"
Bunnie admitted that she never envisioned entering into a conventional, traditional marriage. She explained that their unique backgrounds shaped their initial outlook on the relationship.
"I think a lot of people need to realize that coming into this marriage, we weren’t a traditional bride and groom," Bunnie explained. "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," she added. "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 memoir, Bunnie recalled the exact moment she uncovered the truth about the alleged infidelity. The revelation caused her to temporarily distance herself from the musician.
"Are you f---ing kidding me?" Bunnie wrote in her book. "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," she wrote. "I went completely silent and didn't reach out to J or answer any calls."
Shortly after the incident, Jelly Roll released his 2018 album, "Waylon & Willie II." Bunnie claimed the tracks clearly reflected his personal guilt and marital indiscretions.
"Have you ever listened to those songs?" Bunnie 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 on the crisis, Bunnie said that their initial fairy tale quickly transformed into a difficult struggle. She blamed their individual pasts for the ongoing friction.
"It’s not so much what was going on in our marriage," Bunnie shared. "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," she explained. "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."
Bunnie reflected on her own personal trauma, noting she had previously escaped a highly abusive relationship. She also revealed that her father was the first man she ever saw engage in infidelity.
"So I just didn’t really believe in traditional marriage at the same time either," Bunnie stated. "There were just so many factors of why things happened the way they did."
Eventually, both individuals decided they were ready to make a serious change. The couple sought professional marriage counseling to save their fractured relationship, but the session quickly deteriorated.
"If I could just paint the scene for you, it’s a husband-and-wife marriage counseling couple," Bunnie said. "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," she continued. "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."
The counseling session quickly exploded into an aggressive argument between the two stars. The emotional baggage from their pasts proved too heavy to ignore at the time.
"We went in there, and this poor couple had no idea what they had stepped into," Bunnie recalled. "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," Bunnie added.
Despite the explosive session, the couple eventually made the conscious choice to reconcile. They committed to personal growth and breaking the negative generational patterns of their families.
"We ended up coming back together," Bunnie said. "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."
The couple learned that a successful marriage requires daily dedication and effort. Bunnie noted that partners must continuously choose each other, even during difficult moments.
"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."
In 2023, the couple officially renewed their wedding vows at the same Las Vegas chapel where they first wed. Bunnie described their mutual devotion as incredibly strong at the time.
"I’ve seen 10 different versions of my husband in 10 years, and he’s seen probably four different versions of me," Bunnie said. "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."
The couple prided themselves on maintaining a judgment-free household. They focused on tackling life's obstacles together as a team.
"We don’t judge each other," Bunnie concluded. "There’s no judgment in this house. 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."