Jelly Rolls Family Guide: Meet His Two Children and His Wife Bunnie XO

He may have had an uncontroversial start to fatherhood, but jellyroll has always prioritized his family.

The country singer gave birth to his first child, daughter Bailee Ann, with his ex-girlfriend Felicia in 2008. At the time, Jelly (real name Jason DeFord) was serving a prison sentence for a drug trafficking conviction.

“During the lockdown, a guard knocks on my cell door in the afternoon. He says, ‘You had a baby today,'” he told Billboard in June 2023. “I’ve never had anything in my life that pushed me in that moment to know that I had to do something different. I have to figure this out now.”

When Jelly learned of Bailee’s arrival, he vowed to be there for his daughter. Eight years later, the musician became a father for the second time when he gave birth to son Noah Buddy with his ex-Melisa in August 2016.

That same month, he welcomed Noah and Jelly married his wife Bunnie XO. Although the couple doesn’t have any children together, Jelly Bunnie credits the reason he was able to be a better father.

“They speak of a woman who came in and took a child that was soon to be born, and a child that was soon to be born [we were] Soon he will have full custody,” he told Billboard. “Without her, I would never have gotten custody of my daughter. I wouldn’t have had the stability or the money.”

Keep scrolling to meet Jelly’s family:

Bunnie XO

Jelly and Bunnie met in 2015 at one of the musician’s shows in Las Vegas. The following year, the couple eloped at a Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas.

“It takes a special kind of woman to raise a child who is not her child and still treat him as if she were. Bunnie is this special woman, outside of social media, outside of the podcast and all the business ventures that she does and helps me with. Bunnie is a beautiful soul,” Jelly wrote via Facebook alongside a photo of his wife with his daughter in May 2020. “She is kind, patient and caring. Over the years, it has been nothing short of magical watching her relationship with Bailee evolve into the beautiful mother-daughter bond it has become.”

Bailey Ann

In 2017, Jelly and Bunnie were granted custody of Bailee while her mother struggled with drug addiction. During a February 2024 appearance on her stepmother’s “Dumb Blonde” podcast, Bailee opened up about her struggles while living with her mother.

“I still smoked a lot and did all sorts of things, but I stopped drinking coke because my mom wasn’t there,” the teen recalled, while Bunnie noted that her stepdaughter didn’t have access to harder drugs as long as her mother was not present. “Why should I? Had no access, had no need.”

During an appearance at Stagecoach in April 2024, Jelly brought his daughter on stage for her birthday.

“I don’t want to put her on blast, but my little girl is 15 years old and in about 10 days she’ll be 16,” he told the audience at the music festival. “I see some of you little cowboys smiling, stop it. I’m looking at you. I see you.”

Noah buddy

Jelly announced his son’s arrival in August 2016. “God bless this child to be everything I am not!” “Noah Buddy DeFord!” he wrote on Facebook at the time. “I pray that neither he nor Bailee ever have to pay for their father’s sins. I will post more pictures tomorrow.”

Seven years later, Noah made his debut on his stepmother’s social media page. (Bunnie later shared that she had received permission from Noah’s mother to put the little one in front of the camera.)

“My name is Noah and my favorite color is red,” he said in a July 2023 TikTok video.