Though he spoke at length about being “petrified” about losing his momentum as the country music sensation Jelly roll says it won’t be his weight that will determine the amount of success he will have in the future.
The Nashville, Tennessee, native, who recently embarked on a public weight-loss journey, says he’s confident his willingness to be open about shedding pounds won’t rob him of his fame.
“I did this in public for a reason,” he told his wife Bunnie Xo.Dumb blonde” podcast, released Monday. “I want to be honest about my struggles with it with people. I carried it for so long.”
JELLY ROLL LOST OVER 50 POUNDS DURING FIGHT AGAINST FOOD ADDICTION
Jelly Roll is pictured in June 2023, left, and November 2024. (Getty Images)
“I think people who get as big as I do feel a little embarrassed when they lose weight,” explained the “Save me‘ singer, who has lost 50 kilos. “They’re so ashamed that they hide and lose the weight, and then they come out, and they don’t really know how to interact with the world or look different or feel different different, you know?” And they kind of had to find their completely new path.”
Jelly Roll, born Jason Bradley DeFord, says he took the opposite approach. “I wanted to get it out there for everyone. I wanted to talk about it,” adding that it is a regular topic of conversation in his daily vlogs that he records.
Jelly Roll says he has chosen to involve the public in his weight loss journey. (Scott Legato/Getty Images)
“This is constantly what I put on the air because I want to take people with me.”
To further his point, Jelly Roll brought up an earlier conversation with his wife. “One night you said something like, ‘Are you worried about the ‘fat effect’? And that most Hollywood stars who have lost a lot of weight don’t end up in their careers.”
Jelly Roll was a guest on his wife Bunnie XO’s podcast, “Dumb Blonde.” (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
“What I want the world to know, and I want people to see, Bunnie, is that I didn’t become successful because my weight“Nevertheless, I became successful,” Jelly Roll said firmly. “Somehow I managed to be so successful carrying 550 pounds. That’s insane.”
Jelly Roll believes his struggle with food trumps unhealthy habits. “I used to feel like it was so unfair to real addicts to call food something that you could be addicted to. You know, because I’ve seen people fighting for their lives with heroin,” the formerly incarcerated singer said.
“I didn’t become successful because of my weight, I became successful despite my weight.”
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Jelly Roll believes that by losing weight he will have to face his addiction to food. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
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“But I’ve seen people fighting for their lives in their own bodies. You know what I mean? And I started to realize that the same patterns I had… towards drugs or alcohol at different times in my life were small compared to the persistent bad pattern I had with eating.”
On his horizon, Jelly Roll has set himself a new goal: to become a cover model. “I want to be on the cover of ‘Men’s Health’ in March 2026,” he told his wife, who shared his excitement. “That’s my new goal. So I want to have one of the biggest transformations.”
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