Jelly Roll stopped his New York concert cold to say the one thing fans have been waiting a week to hear, and what came out of his mouth left the crowd stunned.
Performing in Saratoga Springs, New York, on Thursday night as part of his Little ASS Shed Tour, the country star broke his public silence on his divorce from his wife, Bunnie XO, for the first time and made it crystal clear he’d only do it once. “I wasn’t going to talk about this tonight, but while we’re talking about liars, the internet is a liar too,” he told the crowd, right after performing his hit “Liar.” “This is the only time and the only city I’m going to speak about this, so break your camera phones out now.“
What followed flipped the entire narrative around their split.
Rather than air grievances, the 41-year-old singer, whose real name is Jason DeFord, poured out love for his estranged wife. “Me and my wife are best friends, we will always be best friends,” he said. “I will love her. She will probably be the only woman I’ll ever love the way I loved her.” Then he shut down the rumor that had swirled all week: “Nobody cheated on nobody. She just did a whole podcast about it.“
The bigger bombshell came from Bunnie’s side. Shortly before his remarks, the 46-year-old podcaster, whose real name is Alisa DeFord, broke her own silence on her “Dumb Blonde” podcast and revealed that despite the divorce, the two are “still having a baby together.” Her explanation was blunter than fans expected: “We’re going to co-parent together. J is my best friend… Nobody cheated on the other person. It’s literally just we served our purpose for each other.“
For a couple who met at one of his concerts in 2015 and married a year later, it’s an unusual ending — a divorce with no villain and a baby still on the way. But while the Saratoga Springs crowd roared, the internet was a tougher room.
The Crowd Cheered And The Internet Wasn’t Buying It
Online, the reaction skewed heavily skeptical. Over and over, fans circled the same question: if nobody cheated and they’re still best friends, why split at all? “‘Divorcing but still best friends’ is the wildest PR spin I’ve seen in a minute what’s the actual reason for the split?” one user wrote. A wave of others smelled a publicity play, while plenty just couldn’t get past the logic: “Best friends who get divorced? Huh?“
The timing of his big speech gave the comments their best laugh, too: “The crowd waiting for him to play ‘Need A Favor’ while he’s out here explaining his text messages is hilarious,” one fan cracked.
Still, he had defenders. “Jelly Roll handling this with real class, still best friends after everything? Respect,” one supporter wrote. Love it or doubt it, one thing was certain: nobody scrolled past it.
