Jelly Roll’s Wife Bunnie Xo Gets Brutally Honest About Everything: ‘Nobody’s Going to Save You Except for You’

Most people know Bunnie Xo as Jelly Roll’s wife or the host of Dumb Blonde, one of the biggest podcasts in the country. But the version of her life that just landed on the New York Times bestseller list hits a lot heavier than anything she’s ever said behind a mic.

Her memoir, Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic, sold 200,000 copies in its first week and is already being adapted into a film by the producers behind Yellowstone and Landman. And it goes deep—growing up homeless in Vegas, escorting, addiction, and the relationship that almost killed her.

On You Wish, she sits down with host Holly Madison and gets into all of it. Here are the highlights from the episode.

Jelly Roll’s Wife Bunnie Xo Gets Brutally Honest About Everything: ‘Nobody’s Going to Save You Except for You’

Your book opens with ‘I should be dead.’ Is resilience the biggest thing you took away from your childhood?

“When you grow up in a traumatic childhood like that and just around so much stuff that you don’t want to grow up to be like…you teach yourself to not wallow. You don’t have time to sit around and feel sorry for yourself. If you want to make something of yourself, you have to get up and go after it. Nobody’s going to save you except for you. So resilience for sure is one of the qualities I have. Probably tenacity too. Maybe a bit of delusion. A lot of delusion. But definitely resilience for sure.”

What made you start a podcast when nobody was really doing them yet?

“When I first got with my husband, people from our past were like, ‘Oh, Bunnie’s a hooker. Jelly Roll married a prostitute.’ And I just was like, in this day and age, if you don’t tell your story, somebody else will. And it’s not the right story. So I went to my husband and was like, ‘They’re telling lies. What do I do? How do I defend myself?’ And this was back when we didn’t have very big followings. And he was just like, ‘Tell your truth. Figure out a way to do it.’ And I was like, I’ve been training for this my whole life. This is when podcasting wasn’t even big. There was like Joe Rogan, Call Her Daddy, just a very minimal amount of podcasts. And that’s when I started Dumb Blonde.”

You were in an abusive relationship that you say changed who you are. How?

“When I got into that relationship, I was not a good human. I was really f*cking egotistical. I hurt people. I was doing drugs. I just was not a good human. And when it was mirrored back to me how I was, that’s why I say I’m not a victim. I’m a survivor. I think I needed that relationship to happen for God to humble me and sit me down and be like, ‘Hey, you’re here for a reason and you’re not on the right path.’ And I’m thankful for that relationship. A lot of people are like, ‘Why are you thankful for an abusive relationship?’ But in the end, those are the relationships that are soul-changing and life-changing and necessary for growth. I wouldn’t have learned half the things I did about myself had I not gone through that.”

Tell me about the first time you met Jelly Roll

“He was playing with Moonshine Bandits at the Las Vegas Country Saloon…I was with my ex at the time…He just came up, this big bouncy country boy. And I was just like, who is this man? He just felt so familiar right away. It sounds so cliché, but it was really like our souls recognized each other…I was like obsessed with him. I was videoing him the entire time even though I was there with somebody else. I have the video—I’ve never f*cking videoed somebody like that ever.”

What made you walk away from OnlyFans?

“I remember being at an awards show one day and I was kind of looking around and I was just like, ‘These women are so beautiful. I feel like the complete outcast because I’m the only one who’s got my butthole on the internet.’ So I was like, ‘Maybe I need to make changes, not just for me, but for my family.’ And I remember I prayed. I was just like, ‘God, if I’m doing the right thing, please show me I’m doing the right thing.’ And he tripled my income. I got rid of that and within months, deals just started rolling in and it’s been like that ever since.”

How do you manage your anxiety now?

“I do box breathing where you breathe in for six, hold it for six, and breathe out for six. I’m telling you, that feels like I chewed a piece of Xanax. It resets your nervous system. It feels so good. In my purse, I carry around this magnesium glycinate powder that if you start having anxiety, you put it in your water, drink it, and within 10 minutes you can breathe again…

…In 2022, I took an entire year where I just did nothing but therapy—I did it two times a week and it was the most rewarding yet exhausting thing I’ve ever been through.”

Listen to the full episode on You Wish with Holly Madison, available wherever you listen to podcasts.

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