Jelly Roll Has A Teenage Daughter Named Bailee Ann – She Was Born When He Was Incarcerated
Did you know that Jelly Roll has a daughter named Bailee? Get ready to learn more about who she is and how she’s changed her father’s life.
Jason Bradley DeFord, better known by his stage name Jelly Roll, is one of the leading stars in country music at the moment. Because of this, fans are naturally curious to learn more about his life. It’s a life that hasn’t always been easy for the “Need a Favor” singer.
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Jelly Roll fell in with the wrong crowd when he was young. He went to a juvenile detention center as a youth and later served time in prison as an adult.
While incarcerated, Jelly Roll became a father for the first time. His daughter, Bailee Ann, was born in 2008 while he was still behind bars.
After he got out of prison, Jelly Roll was motivated to turn his life around. He started his music career, and originally performed as a hip hop and rap artist. At the same time, he worked on developing his bond with Bailee.
Jelly Roll’s Wife, Bunnie Xo, Helped Him Form A Stronger Relationship With His Daughter
While he was finding his footing as a singer, Jelly Roll met and fell in love with model and entrepreneur Bunnie Xo. They married in August 2016.
In a 2023 interview with Billboard, Jelly Roll called Bunnie “a beacon of change in [his] life.”
Jelly Roll credits Bunnie for helping him form a stronger bond with Bailee. He gushed about her qualities as a wife and stepmother in a post he shared on Facebook in 2020. The post includes a photo of him, Bunnie, and Bailee.
He said:
“It takes a special kind of woman to raise a kid that isn’t her child and still treat the child as if she was . Bunnie is that special woman…Bunnie is a beautiful soul…Over the years watching her relationship with Bailee blossom into this beautiful mother daughter bond that it has become has been nothing short of magical. I have truly been blessed with the best partner I could’ve asked for in life . You are the epitome of a good mom and deserve more credit than anyone because you didn’t have to step up to the plate the way you did. You chose to step up and man you have knocked it out of the park .”
Jelly Roll’s Daughter Bailee Ann Is Not An Only Child, She Has A Younger Brother
Jelly Roll also has a young son, named Noah, who was born in 2016. It moved him to see how Bunnie accepted both of his kids from the start of their relationship.
“You’re talking about a woman that came in and took a child that was soon to be born and a child that [we were] soon to have full custody of,” he told Billboard about Bunnie’s relationship with Noah and Bailee. “I would have never got custody of my daughter without her. I wouldn’t have had the stability or the money.”
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Per Jelly Roll’s Billboard interview, he has full custody of Bailee, who is now 15 years old. He shares custody of Noah, and that’s why fans haven’t seen much of him since he was born:
“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 told Taste of Country. “I try not to get in the way of what she [Noah’s mother] is building over there, and I never want to step on her toes, with what she’s doing with him, that I want to just respect that boundary.”
Bailee Ann Co-Wrote A Song That Her Father Jelly Roll Recorded
Bailee was only 10 years old when she wrote part of a song for her dad. He recalled a conversation they had about the song, saying:
“A few years back, Bailee came to me and said that she wanted to do a song, and she told me she wanted to use writing as a means of therapy. She was probably 10 years old, nine years old at the time. And I said, ‘Well, I’d love for you to write something and if it’s good, we’ll put it on my album.'”
That song ended up being called “Tears Could Talk.” Jelly Roll stayed true to his word, and included the track with Bailee on his 2020 album A Beautiful Disaster.
Bailee also sings on the recording, and appears in its official music video. The clip has over 19 million views on YouTube at the time of this writing.
“She wrote this verse all by herself , and getting to share her story and shoot this video is means so much to me I am getting emotional just typing this post . Please share this video for Bailee and myself and we hope it helps somebody somewhere,” Jelly Roll wrote in the comments section of the video.
More recently, Bailee joined her father onstage at one of his shows to perform “Tears Could Talk” live. You can check out that video below.
Even more recently, Bailee got the chance to celebrate her “Sweet 16” onstage with her dad at Stagecoach. Then, she picked her first car, and made a surprising choice!
Bailee has her own public Instagram page with over 60,000 followers. She calls herself a musician, makeup artist, and fashionista with a “whole lot of love with a whole lot of sass.” Keep up to date with her life and passions here.