Bunnie XO reveals ‘devastating’ physical toll of Jelly Roll divorce
Bunnie XO is opening up about just how physically devastating her divorce from Jelly Roll became in the months after he filed.
Appearing on Jenna Bush Hager’s Open Book podcast on Thursday, September 3, the 46-year-old podcaster and author revealed that heartbreak took a serious toll on her body, describing a period where she stopped eating almost entirely.
“There [were] moments when my team had to pick me up off the floor and give me IVs,” she said.
“Because I wasn’t eating. I was eating baby food to get by. I lost 20 pounds. Heartbreak, man, it’s the best freaking diet.”
Bunnie, whose legal name is Alisa DeFord, also pushed back on the perception that she’s handled the split without difficulty simply because she hasn’t broken down publicly about it.
“People are mistaken” about her reaction, she said, explaining that she made a deliberate choice not to process her pain on camera the way she once did.
“I did one time in 2018 and it’s on my YouTube and I vowed to myself that I would never do that again,” she said, “Because one, that’s super vulnerable, but two, I don’t feel like that is productive in any way.”
Still, she was clear that staying private doesn’t mean she hasn’t been deeply affected, calling divorce “a very devastating situation” more broadly: “Families get broken up, hearts get broken.”
She said she’s choosing instead to focus publicly on healing and resilience rather than grief, explaining, “I want to show people strength. I want to show people resilience. I want to show people rebuilding and knowing that, like, yeah, my heart was shattered, but guess what? It’s healing, and it’s coming back even stronger.”
She summed up her broader outlook with characteristic humour: “When life hands you lemons, make freaking lemonade slushies. Like, let’s do this.”
Jelly Roll, whose legal name is Jason DeFord, filed for divorce from Bunnie in May after nearly a decade of marriage, with the split finalised in July.
He’s addressed the breakup publicly himself as well, telling a crowd at a June concert that the two remain close despite the marriage ending.
“Me and my wife are best friends. We will always be best friends. We just got off the phone earlier today. Nobody cheated on nobody. She just did a whole podcast about it. You can go watch it. Every word of it is the truth. That will be my best friend forever.”
Despite the divorce, Bunnie has continued to say she still hopes to become a mother, telling PEOPLE and other outlets in recent weeks that her path to parenthood remains something she’s actively pursuing and plans to write about in an upcoming book.
