Daughter Bailee Ann and son Noah Buddy are the two children of Jelly Roll, who is a proud and devoted papa bear.
The country music artist has often talked about how the 2008 birth of his daughter improved his life forever. Jelly Roll was a drug dealer who was incarcerated the day Bailee was born.”I had to stop being self-centered. A part of me was the only one depending on it, Jelly Roll candidly said to 105.7 The Point. “I was aware that assignment was crucial. So I wanted to give it my full attention. I also did. Even now, I still take it extremely seriously.
After eloping in 2016, Jelly Roll and his spouse Bunnie XO were given primary custody of Bailee. That year saw the addition of Jelly Roll’s kid from a prior relationship, bringing their family of three even closer.
For privacy reasons, the couple seldom ever writes about Bailee and Noah on social media, but that hasn’t prevented the singer of “Son of a Sinner” from raving about his children in interviews. After winning three consecutive CMT Music Awards in 2023, Jelly Roll sobbed as he discussed Bailee and the significance of the career milestone for their family.
“She is aware of the narrative. She is aware of its reality. “I’m merely pleased with her,” he said to Entertainment Tonight. “Bailee Ann, you have my undying affection. As soon as I left the stage, I gave it some thought. You’ve made a huge impact on my life. But it’s simply not genuine. For us, this goes beyond a single honor. We had no prior experience.
All the information you need to know about Jelly Roll and his wife Bunnie XO’s two children, who they co-parent.
Bailee Ann, fifteen
May 22, 2008, was Bailee Ann’s birthday. When Jelly Roll, then 23 years old, found out about the birth of his daughter, he was imprisoned; he describes this as his “road to Damascus.”
In the midst of the lockdown, a security taps on my cell door in the afternoon. He says, ‘You had a kid today,'” Jelly Roll remembered in a Billboard interview. Nothing in my life has ever compelled me to act differently in the heat of the moment. I have to solve this problem immediately.
Jelly Roll claimed that although he was initially “irritated” by the news, the birth of his daughter “inspired him to change.” Just in time for Bailee’s second birthday, he was let out of prison and “grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.”
Bailee currently resides with her stepmother, Bunnie XO, and father. After Bailee’s mother developed a heroin addiction in 2017, the couple was given full custody of Bailee. During her rehabilitation journey, Bailee revealed details of her difficult childhood and how she and her mother, Felicia, are trying to patch things up on an episode of Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast.
“I had a unique, fascinating, and difficult upbringing. My dad did, Bunnie did. “They’re significant reasons why my mom is in my life now and sober,” Bailee stated while making an appearance on Jelly Roll: Save Me, her dad’s Hulu documentary. Teenager that I am, I’ve moved on. I worked all through my early years. However, that doesn’t make it disappear. It shaped the person I am now.
Like her father, Bailee has found happiness and healing in songwriting. When she was just ten years old, she authored “Tears Could Talk.” Jelly Roll’s 2010 album A Beautiful Disaster included the song. In the music video for the song, Bailee can be seen with her father. She has also performed the duet live with him on his Backroad Baptism Tour.
While on tour in Georgia, Jelly Roll thanked his supporters and presented his daughter to the audience. According to Music Mayhem magazine, he said, “Not only have y’all changed my life, you’ve changed her life in ways that we can’t even describe.”
In April 2024, Jelly Roll celebrated Bailee’s 16th birthday by bringing her backstage during his performance at Stagecoach. Bailee would turn 16 “in, like, 10 days.”
“If I can do the old ‘Happy birthday to you,’ I figured it would be a really cool dad way to embarrass her,” he added, later adding that he was hoped it would get him “cool dad points.”
“I flew my daughter to California for this show, so I took her out of school today.” Tell her instructor not to know,” he said.
Noah Buddy, age seven
On August 23, 2016, Noah Buddy DeFord, Jelly Roll’s kid, was born. Other than posting a Facebook birth announcement, Jelly Roll has avoided discussing his son in public or during interviews. Before Noah turned seven in 2023, his stepmother Bunnie XO and he posted a TikTok video, which served as the public’s first real introduction to each other.
“Hello, I’m Noah, and I love the color red,” he says shyly, grinning broadly at the camera.
In another segment of the film, Noah revealed that he enjoys playing soccer and Pokemon the most and that he would like a dog and a cat as pets. He also hinted that, in his opinion, his big sister is more attractive than his well-known father.
Fans expressed surprise when they saw Noah in the TikTok, however Bunnie XO later confirmed in the comments that she had permission from Noah’s mother to share the video.
Noah is very much a member of the family, according to Jelly Roll, who spoke with Taste of Country. He frequently travels on vacation with them. He continued that out of consideration for Noah and his mother’s privacy, they “always try to shoot [social media content] around him” in those situations.
“With Bailee, I’m the full-time parent, I’m the judge, the jury and the executioner, when it comes to decisions with her,” Jelly Roll said. “I try not to get in the way of what she [Melisa] is building over there. I want to just respect that boundary and never step on her toes with what she’s doing with him.”